3. <L Saul Collection
of
IRineteeutb Centurp
English literature
purcbasefc in part
tbrougb a contribution to tbe
Xibrar^ jfunbs mafce bp tbe
department ot lEnglieb in
College,
ELIZABETH LADY SHELLEY
After the picture by George Romney, R.A.,
in the possession of Sir John Shelley, Bart.
SHELLEY
IN ENGLAND
NEW FACTS AND LETTERS
FROM THE SHELLEY-WHITTON PAPERS
BY
ROGER INGPEN
EDITOR OF " THE LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY "
••:
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACSIMILES
VOLUME II
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1917
fit
Is-
1117
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
Contents
XIII. MARRIED LIFE 350
XIV. PARTING FROM HARRIET 398
XV. THE DEATH OF HARRIET 438
XVI. MARLOW 487
XVII. THE PARADISE OF EXILES 531
XVIII. CONCLUSION 572
APPENDICES
I. SHELLEY'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SLATTERS
OF OXFORD 629
II. SHELLEY'S ARREST FOR DEBT AT CARNARVON
IN 1812 633
III. SHELLEY'S COACHMAKER'S ACCOUNT, 1813 . 636
IV. SHELLEY'S RE-MARRIAGE IN LONDON TO HAR-
RIET, 1814 639
V. SHELLEY'S ELOPEMENT WITH MARY GODWIN,
1814 641
VI. ABSTRACT OF DEED POLL WHEREBY P. B. SHEL-
LEY DISCLAIMED ALL INTEREST UNDER THE WlLL
OF SIR BYSSHE SHELLEY 643
VII. ABSTRACT OF APPOINTMENT BY SIR T. SHELLEY
AND P. B. SHELLEY OF THE ESTATES DEVISED BY
THE WILL OF J. SHELLEY 644
iii
Contents
VIII. ABSTRACT OF DEED WHEREBY SIR T. SHELLEY
COVENANTED TO PAY ANNUITY OF £lOOO PER
ANNUM TO P. B. SHELLEY 646
IX. INQUEST ON HARRIET SHELLEY'S BODY . . 647
X. SHELLEY'S MARRIAGE TO MARY W. GODWIN,
1816 652
XL MARRIAGE OF IANTHE ELIZA SHELLEY . .655
SHELLEY'S MS. NOTE-BOOK
A DEFENCE OF POETRY . 660
ADONAIS: PREFACE 671
» TEXT 675
DRAFTS OF AN ITALIAN POEM 688
To EMELIA VIVIANI 690
INDEX 692
Illustrations
ELIZABETH, LADY SHELLEY Frontispiece
"LAON AND CYTHNA" — FACSIMILE OF MS. Facing 520
CAPTAIN THOMAS MEDWIN „ 540
JOHN SHELLEY (Shelley's brother) . . . . „ 588
THE TOMBSTONE OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
AND WILLIAM GODWIN 609
SIR PERCY FLORENCE SHELLEY, BART. . . Facing 624
SHELLEY'S MS. NOTE-BOOK
A DEFENCE OF POETRY. To EMELIA VIVIANI Facing 662
„ „ PREFACE TO ADONAIS „ 672
ADONAIS V ADONAIS XXI „ 675
XIV „ XIV „ 675
XVI „ XVI „ 676
» XVII „ XV „ 677
„ XIX „ not identified „ 678
XX „ 679
„ XXIII „ XXIII . „ 680
XXIII XXIV 681
Illustrations
ADONAIS XXIV ADONAIS XXV . Facing 681
„ XXX
„ XVII . „
682
„ XXX
„ XVII . „
683
XL
„ XLI . „
684
XLI
„ XLII . „
685
„ XLII
» XLIII . „
686
„ [VI] not identified
„ XL . „
687
„ XIX DRAFT OF
AN ITALIAN POEM
688
A DEFENCE OF POETRY. To
EMELIA VIVIANI „
690
A FRAGMENT OF A " SATIRE ON SATIRE " „
691
PEDIGREE OF SHELLEY'S DESCENT
Shelley in England
Volume II
Shelley in England
CHAPTER XIII
MARRIED LIFE
Bysshe's return to York — Hogg's treachery — The arrival of
Eliza Westbrook— Bysshe moves to Keswick— Correspondence with
Hogg — Miss Hitchener the consoler — Robert Southey — Bysshe and
his landlord — The Duke of Norfolk — A visit to Greystoke — Corre-
spondence with Mr. Shelley — Mr. Westbrook's allowance — Hellen
Shelley— William Godwin— The Irish expedition— The Shelleys
at Nantgwillt— Scandal at Cuckfield— Bysshe and his grandfather
— Letter to Lord Ellenborough — Lynmouth— Miss Hitchener —
Tanyrallt— Shelley arrested.
BYSSHE returned to York by October 26 ; for on
that date he wrote to Mr. Shelley, who had told
him to discuss any questions respecting his allowance
with Whitton. The lawyer's cautious method of
doing business and his letters of remonstrance had
so greatly irritated Bysshe that he was prompted to
protest to his father at the manner in which he was
being treated. Bysshe had been requested by Whitton
to address to his care any letters that he might write
to Mr. Shelley, and not to send them direct. But he
ignored this request, and wrote to Field Place ; while
Hogg addressed and sealed the letter with his coat
of arms — displaying three boars' heads couped, with
an oak tree on a wreath as a crest.
350
Married Life
Mr. Shelley was not deceived by the direction,
and sent the letter to Whitton on October 29.
" The enclosed is from York," he said — " Hogg's
direction and seal." He then, as usual, commented
on Bysshe's behaviour, especially in not availing him-
self of Whitton's " good intentions," and remarked
that " when he can submit to filial duty, and obedience
to his Parents, and gentlemanly conduct and behaviour
towards you, who so kindly undertake this Unique
[? business] on my account, He will then experience
Parental fondness on our parts, and a suitable return
on yours." Mr. Shelley was relieved that Bysshe
had left London, and he had no wish to see him, for
he said, " York for ever ! I hope he will remain
there untill a thorough amendment takes place."
He concluded with the following unexpected reference
to Sir Bysshe's geniality : " My father was extremely
pleasant at the signing the Codicils. Mr. Stedman
[a Horsham solicitor] told him any pen would do.
' Oh ! ho ! ' and with great gravity produced Mrs.
Clarke's leg that is sold in Ivory as a Toy at
Worthing."
P. B. Shelley to Timothy Shelley
[Postmark, YORK,
Oct. 26, 1811.]
SIR, — When I last saw you I was referred by you
to Mr. Whitton for the payment of the quarterly
Shelley in England
allowance on which I was desired by you to rely. Mr.
W.'s answer to my note was in the most vague stile
of complaint concerning the letters which I had
written to you. . . I do not see how personal feel-
ings, even if unjustly wounded, can be an excuse to
a man's own conscience for the violation of an un-
equivocal promise. . . But have they been unjustly
wounded? Are the remarks to which I conjecture
Mr. W.'s letters to allude true or false. . . Did you,
or did you not falsely speak of my friend to Mr. J.
Hogg, and as falsely assert that Stockdale the book-
seller was the author of these misrepresentations ?
Did Graham, the music-master, or did he not ward
off a threatned action for libel ? Have you or have
you not written to Mr. Hogg of Stockton letters
calculated, and intended to lower my character in
their opinion, opposing as in contrast your own ex-
cellencies ? I am compelled to recur to these things
in consequence of your Attorney's letter, and your
unjust anger. — I am, yours, &c.,
P. B. SHELLEY.
[Addressed] :
TIMOTHY SHELLEY, Esq.,
Field Place,
Horsham,
M.P. Sussex.
Mr. Whitton, however, on reading this letter re-
garded it as an " improper writing for Mr. Shelley's
perusal " ; he told Bysshe so in a note, and for that
reason he did not intend to forward it. The lawyer
remonstrated with Bysshe for his " sentiments of
anger " in his endeavour to serve him, and said that
352
Married Life
" the boyish warmth of Mr. P. B. Shelley is inexcus-
able, and W. will consider that the flippancy and
impertinent observations made by Mr. P. B. Shelley
are attributable to an irritable and uninformed mind."
Mr. Whitton, like many others, experienced a diffi-
culty in maintaining his dignity in a third person
letter ; he wrote in anger, and he probably meant to
describe Bysshe's mind as " unformed."
On Bysshe's arrival at York he found that Harriet
was not alone, but that her sister, Eliza Westbrook,
was keeping her company. The reasons given for her
appearance were such as to cause him great distress,
for they were none other than the result of treachery
on the part of his friend Hogg. It appears that when
he was at Edinburgh, attracted by Harriet's girlish
charms, Hogg had fallen deeply in love with her. He
did not, however, declare his passion until they went
to York, when Harriet forbade him to mention the
subject again, and hoping she might hear no more
of it, she forbore to tell her husband. Then Bysshe
went to Sussex and left Harriet in the care of his
friend, who not only again avowed his love but pes-
tered her " with arguments of detestable sophistry."
Poor Harriet withstood these entreaties, and, when
Hogg, now contrite, wanted to write to Bysshe and
tell him the whole story, she refused to allow him, as
she feared the consequences of the revelation on her
353 z
Shelley in England
husband's mind at such a distance. Harriet, however,
took immediate steps to protect herself from any
further annoyance from Hogg, and sent for her sister
Eliza, who probably arrived at York shortly before
Bysshe.
In his letters to Miss Kitchener Bysshe relates these
incidents, and describes his interview with Hogg
after learning the truth from Harriet. Bysshe said
that he sought Hogg, and they walked to the fields
beyond York. He desired to know fully the account
of this affair. " I heard it from him," he said, " and
I believe he was sincere." ..." Our conversation
was long. He was silent, pale, overwhelmed ; the
suddenness of the disclosure, and, oh ! I hope its
heinousness, had affected him. I told him that I
pardoned him — freely, fully, completely pardoned, that
not the least anger against him possessed me. His
vices and not himself were the objects of my horror
and my hatred. I told him I yet ardently panted for
his real welfare ; but that ill-success in crime and
misery appeared to me an earnest of its opposite
in benevolence."
Hogg pleaded for forgiveness, and Bysshe, with
singular generosity, pardoned him. He also begged
for Harriet's forgiveness, and declared that if he did
not obtain it he would blow his brains out at her feet.
Bysshe really believed in the sincerity of the penitent,
354
Married Life
but he realised that he and Harriet could not possibly
continue to live in the same house with him. Bysshe
therefore decided to leave York immediately ; he
was very miserable, and so long as he got away from
that town he was indifferent where he went. Harriet
and her sister knew and liked Keswick, which perhaps
had some attraction for Bysshe, as Southey was living
hard by at Greta Hall. So to Keswick they decided to
go — Bysshe, Harriet, and Eliza ; they made their
preparations swiftly, and, although Hogg was aware
they were leaving, they departed without taking fare-
well of him. Wending their way across Yorkshire,
they halted at Richmond, and then continued on their
course to Keswick, where they arrived in the first
week of November.
Bysshe wrote many letters from Keswick to Hogg,
who printed some of them in his Life of Shelley, but
apparently in a much altered form, so as to disguise
any references to the painful episode with which they
were principally concerned. In reading between the
lines of these letters, with the assistance of Bysshe's
correspondence with Miss Kitchener, one gathers that
Hogg began by expressing full contrition for his
conduct. Bysshe, who at first believed that he was
really penitent, told Hogg how deep his affection
had been for him, and how he had once fondly hoped
they would never be separated. As time went on,
355
Shelley in England
the tone of Hogg's letters deteriorated, and he now
expressed a desire that he might live again with
Harriet and Bysshe, who firmly put this suggestion
aside, having detected in his sophistry " deep cunning."
When this device failed, Hogg taunted Bysshe with
his " consistency in despising religion, despising duel-
ling, and despising real friendship," with some hints
as to duelling to induce him to fight it out in this
manner. Bysshe replied that he would not fight a
duel with him, that he had no right to expose his
own life or take Hogg's. He confessed he wished,
from various motives, to prolong his existence, nor
did he think that Hogg's life was a fair exchange for
his, as he had always acted up to his principles, which
was not the case with Hogg.
Miss Kitchener proved to Bysshe a consolation,
and his correspondence with her supplied him with
an outlet for his pent-up feelings. ' Your letters,"
he said, " are like angels sent from heaven on missions
of peace." He spoke of her as the sister of his soul
(as Hogg had once been his spiritual brother), and
begged her to visit them. When Miss Kitchener
demurred, he wrote, " Harriet has laughed at your
suppositions. She invites you to our habitation
wherever we are ; she does this sincerely, and bids
me to send her love to you. Eliza, her sister, is with
us. She is, I think, a woman rather superior to the
356
Married Life
generality. She is prejudiced ; but her prejudices I
do not consider unvanquishable. Indeed, I have
already conquered some of them."
Hogg had conceived a dislike for Eliza Westbrook,
which was natural, considering the reason for her
appearance at York, and she probably reciprocated
the dislike. He did what he could to tarnish the
glory with which Harriet invested her sister. We
are told by this amusing chronicler that Eliza was
old enough l to be the mother of Harriet, who some-
times addressed her as " Mamma," and that she " was
as dignified as satin or silk could make her." Harriet
had described her as exquisitely beautiful, and perhaps
thought her so, for Eliza had cared for and tended
her from childhood. Hogg was therefore bitterly
disappointed to find that Eliza's face was much
marked with the scars of smallpox and deadly white, not
unlike " a mass of boiled rice, boiled in dirty water ; the
eyes dark but dull, and without meaning ; the hair
black and glossy, but coarse, and there was an ad-
mired crop, much like the tail of a horse — a switch tail.
The fine figure was meagre, prim, and constrained."
Eliza was fond of managing, and soon fell into the
1 The register of baptisms of St. George's, Hanover Square, reveals
that Eliza Westbrook was born on June 4, 1782, consequently she was
thirteen years older than Harriet, who was born on August I, 1795. The
West brooks had two other children; Robert, born September 5, 1784)
and Mary Ann, born April 31, 1781.
357
Shelley in England
habit of looking after Harriet and her husband.
She also looked after their resources, and kept the
money in the corner of an old stocking. Harriet was
happy, and Bysshe was tolerant of his sister-in-law,
with her prim ways and everlasting admonitions, whose
favourite remark, when Harriet did anything out of
the ordinary, was, " Gracious Heaven ! What would
Miss Warne say?" Even the omniscient Hogg has
failed to enlighten us about Eliza's friend, whose
opinions she speculated upon with so much curiosity.
During their first days at the lakes they found
lodgings at Townhead, Keswick, but by November 12
they had moved outside the town to Chestnut Cottage.
Shelley described the scenery as " awfully beautiful.
Our window commands a view of two lakes, and the
giant mountains which confine them. But the object
most interesting to my feelings is Sou they 's habita-
tion. He is now on a journey ; when he returns, 1
shall call on him." l Bysshe looked forward to meet-
ing the author of Kehama with his accustomed en-
thusiasm, and he tells Miss Kitchener in another
letter that he had been contemplating the outside of
Greta Hall. When, however, in the course of time
he found himself face to face with Southey he was
obliged to admit disappointment. The older man
was middle-aged, with settled opinions, and given to
1 Shelley to Miss Hitchener, November 14, 1811.
358
Married Life
offering counsel. " I am not sure," he wrote to Miss
Kitchener,1 " that Sou they is quite uninfluenced by
venality. He is disinterested, so far as respects his
family ; but I question if he is so, as far as respects
the world. His writings solely support a numerous
family. His sweet children are such amiable creatures
that I almost forgive what I suspect." Bysshe found
Mrs. Sou they very stupid, but he enjoyed her home-
made tea-cakes. He also met other members of
Sou they 's hospitable household : his two sisters-in law,
Mrs. Coleridge, whom he thought even worse than
Mrs. Southey, and Mrs. Lovell, formerly an actress
(whom he liked), the widow of Robert Lovell, the
young poet-friend of Coleridge and Southey in their
early Bristol days. Bysshe encountered no other local
literary celebrities, neither De Quincey nor bluff " Chris-
topher North," and his desire to meet the other lake
poets, Coleridge and Wordsworth, was not fulfilled.
The young couple in engaging the furnished rooms
at Chestnut Cottage had not thought of including the
garden in their arrangements. When a member of
the Southey household asked Harriet if it was let with
their apartments, she replied, "Oh, no, the garden is
not ours ; but then, you know, the people let us run
about in it, whenever Percy and I are tired of sitting
in the house."
1 On January 2, 1812.
359
Shelley in England
Bysshe and Harriet were, as this story suggests, in
some respects still rather like a couple of overgrown
children. He complained rather indignantly of his
treatment by Mr. Dare, the landlord of Chestnut
Cottage, and remarked, " Strange prejudices have
these country people." Mr. Dare told Bysshe that
he was not satisfied with him, because the country
were gossiping very strangely of his proceedings.
The explanation was that Bysshe had been talking
one evening to Harriet and Eliza about the nature of
the atmosphere, and the young chemist made some
experiments with hydrogen gas, the flame of which
was vivid enough to be observed at some distance.
Mr. Dare was unconvinced, and said, " I am very ill
satisfied with this. Sir, I don't like to talk of it. I
wish you to provide yourself elsewhere." Bysshe
added that he had with much difficulty quieted his
landlord's fears. " He does not, however, much like
us, and I am by no means certain that he will permit
us to remain."
Remembering the Duke of Norfolk's friendly inter-
position in the spring, when he tried to get Bysshe
to take up politics, he wrote before he left York to
the Duke to ask him to intercede on his behalf with
Mr. Shelley in regard to his marriage and his allow-
ance. He also put in a word on behalf of Medwin,
from whom he had borrowed a sum of money to
360
Married Life
enable him to carry off Harriet to Edinburgh. He
had heard that the Horsham lawyer had had a
rencontre with Mr. Shelley, who disbelieved that he
was ignorant of the purpose for which Bysshe had
borrowed the money. The Duke good-naturedly wrote
to Mr. Shelley some days later, as he noted in his diary,
that he would go to Field Place " to confer with him
on the unhappy difference with his son, from whom I
have a letter before me." He also wrote to Bysshe
to say that he would " be glad to interfere but with
little hope of success, fearing that his father, and
not he alone, will see his late conduct in a different
point of view from what he sees it." The Duke
fulfilled his promise and dined with Mr. Shelley at
Horsham on November 10, having previously written
a letter, " cordially worded," inviting Bysshe, Harriet,
and Eliza Westbrook to visit him at Greystoke, his
place in Cumberland, where they went on December i
for a few days. It was a kindly act of the Duke to
receive Bysshe and his wife, especially as it served to
break the ice with Mr. Shelley, if it did not lead to
a reconciliation with him.
The Duke showed much friendliness to his guests,
was " quite charmed " with Eliza Westbrook, and
invited several people to meet them, including William
Calvert of Greta Bank, the son of one of his former
stewards, and brother of Raisley Calvert, Words-
Shelley in England
worth's generous benefactor. Shelley, who took to
Calvert, wrote of him as "an elderly man who
seemed to know all my concerns ; and the expres-
sion of his face, whenever I held the arguments,
which I do everywhere, was such as I shall not readily
forget. I shall have more to tell of him, for we have
met him before in these mountains, and his particular
look then struck Harriet." Before he left the Lake
District, Bysshe received much kindness from Mr.
Calvert, with whom he was soon on terms of friendly
intimacy.
Bysshe's finances were now in a bad state, and he
was forced to think of ways and means. Mr. West-
brook had sent a small sum of money to his daughter,
but with an intimation that no more was to be ex-
pected from him, and it was almost with Bysshe's last
guinea that they were able to visit the Duke. So
Bysshe wrote to Mr. Medwin for advice with regard
to raising some money on his expectations, and asked
for the loan of a small sum to meet his immediate
expenses. He said, " We are now so poor as to be
actually in danger of being deprived of the necessities
of life." Medwin's reply to these inquiries was very
likely unsatisfactory ; the result of the visit to Grey-
stoke was more promising. The Duke wrote to Mr.
Shelley himself, and advised Bysshe also to write to
his father and ask for pardon. The two following
362
Married Life
letters to Timothy Shelley were printed by Professor
Dowden in his Life of Shelley,'1 but as they form a link
in Bysshe's correspondence with his father at this
time, no excuse is made for reprinting them.
P. B. Shelley to Timothy Shelley
KESWICK, CUMBERLAND,
Dec. 13, 1811.
MY DEAR SIR, — I have lately returned from Grey-
stoke, where I had been invited by the Duke of Norfolk
that he might speak with me of the unhappy differ-
ences which some of my actions have occasioned.
The result of his advice was that I should write a
letter to you, the tone of whose expression should be
sorrow that I should have wounded the feelings of
persons so nearly connected with me. Undoubtedly
I should thus express the real sense of my mind, for
when convinced of my error no one is more ready to
own that conviction than myself, nor to repair any
injuries which might have resulted from a line of
conduct which I had pursued.
On my expulsion from Oxford you were so good
as to allow me £200 per annum ; you also added
a promise of my being unrestrained in the exercise of
the completest free agency.
In consequence of this last I married a young lady
whose personal character is unimpeachable. This
action (admitting it to be done) in its very nature
required dissimulation, much as I may regret that
1 These letters were reprinted, with a hitherto unpublished passage
restored to that of December 23, 1812, in the collected edition of Shelley's
Letters, 1909.
363
Shelley in England
I had condescended to employ it. My allowance was
then withdrawn ; I was left without money four
hundred miles from one being I knew, every day
liable to be exposed to the severest exile of penury.
Surely something is to be allowed for human feelings,
when you reflect that the letters you then received
were written in this state of helplessness and derelic-
tion. And now let me say that a reconciliation with
you is a thing which I very much desire. Accept my
apologies for the uneasiness which I have occasioned ;
believe that my wish to repair any uneasiness is firm
and sincere.
I regard these family differences as a very great evil,
and I much lament that I should in any wise have
been instrumental in exciting them.
I hope you will not consider what I am about to
say an insulting want of respect or contempt, but I
think it my duty to say that, however great advantages
might result from such concessions, I can make no
promise of concealing my opinions in political or
religious matters — I should consider myself culpable
to excite any expectation in your mind which I
should be unable to fulfil. What I have said is actu-
ated by the sincerest wish of being again upon those
terms with you which existed some time since. I
have not employed hypocrisy to heighten the regret
which I feel for having occasioned uneasiness. I
have not employed meanness to concede what I
consider it my duty to withhold. Such methods as
these would be unworthy of us both. I hope you
will consider what I have said, and I remain, dear
Father, with sincerest wishes for our perfect right
understanding, yours respectfully and affectionately,
P. B. SHELLEY.
364
Married Life
Timothy Shelley to P. B. Shelley
FIELD PLACE,
Dec. ig, 1811.
DEAR BYSSHE, — I am glad the visit to Greystoke
Castle and the Society of that Nobleman, from whom
I have experienced the kindest Friendship, has had
the effect on your mind, to be con vine 'd of the errors
you have fallen into towards your Parents.
You withdrew yourself from my Protection, after
having promis'd to enter into some Professional line
which you then deem'd the choice of free agency
upon an allowance of £200 pr. ann.
I hope and trust everything will in due time and
proper Probation be brought to an excellent work.
I never can admit within my Family of the Prin-
ciples that caus'd your expulsion from Oxford. — I
remain, &c., T. S.
P. B. Shelley to Timothy Shelley
KESWICK (CUMBERLAND),
Dec. 23, 1811.
MY DEAR SIR, — Your letter which arrived last night
gave me much pleasure. I hasten to acknowledge it,
and to express my satisfaction that you should no
longer regard me in an unfavourable light.
Mr. Westbrook at present allows for his daughter's
subsistence £200 per annum, which prevents any
situations occurring with similar unpleasantness as
that at Edinburgh.
My principles still remain the same as those which
caused my expulsion from Oxford. When questions
which regard the subject are agitated in society, I
365
Shelley in England
explain my opinions with coolness and moderation.
You will not, I hope, object to my train of thinking.
I could disguise it, but this would be falsehood and
hypocrisy.
Believe that what I have said is dictated by the
sincerest sentiments of respect.
I hope I shall sometimes have the pleasure of hear-
ing from you, and that my mother and sisters are
well. Mr. Whitton opened a letter addressed to the
former. I know not what may be the precise state
of that affair which is there alluded to, but I cannot
consider myself blameable for having interfered.
I beg my love to my mother and sisters, and remain,
with sentiments of respect, your affectionate son,
P. B. SHELLEY.
One may be sure that Mr. Westbrook's allowance of
£200 a year was a godsend to the tenants of Chestnut
Cottage, especially as it paved the way to a similar
allowance from Mr. Shelley. But, notwithstanding
Bysshe's straitened means, he was firm in his con-
victions as to the iniquity of entails. He had heard
from Captain Pilfold, so he wrote to Miss Kitchener
on December 15, of a " meditated proposal," on the
part of his father and grandfather, to make his income
immediately larger than Mr. Shelley's, on condition
that he consented to entail the estate on his eldest son,
and in default of male issue on his brother.1 " Silly
1 No evidence to support this statement has been discovered in the
Shelley- Whitton papers.
366
Married Life
dotards ! " he exclaimed ; " do they think I can be thus
bribed and ground into an act of such contemptible
injustice and inutility, that I will forswear my prin-
ciples in consideration of £2000 a year, that the good-
will I could thus purchase, or the ill-will I could thus
overbear, would recompense me for the loss of self-
esteem, of conscious rectitude ? And with what face
can they make to me a proposal so insultingly hateful.
Dare one of them propose such a condition to my
face — to the face of any virtuous man — and not sink
into nothing at his disdain ? That I should entail
£120,000 of command over labour, of power to remit
this, to employ it for beneficent purposes, on one
whom I know not — who might, instead of being the
benefactor of mankind, be its bane, or use this for
the worst purposes, which the real delegate of my
chance-given property might convert into a most
useful instrument of benevolence ! No ! this you will
not suspect me of. What I have told you will serve to
put in its genuine light the grandeur of aristocratical
distinctions, and to show that contemptible vanity
will gratify its unnatural passion at the expense of
every just, humane, and philanthropic consideration :
" Tho' to a radiant angel linked,
Will sate itself in a celestial bed,
And prey on garbage."
Bysshe's expressed desire for a reconciliation with
367
Shelley in England
his father was no doubt prompted to a great extent
by his longing to see his sisters. It must have been
a great blow to him when he was given to understand
by his father's last letter that, so long as he enter-
tained opinions such as had caused his expulsion from
Oxford, he could not expect to be received under the
paternal roof. Any hope, therefore, of seeing his
sisters had vanished, for a time at least. What
Bysshe wanted to know was whether they still cared
for him, or whether they had all been influenced to
consider him as bad as he appeared in his father's
eyes. He had no hopes of Elizabeth, who had ceased
to be one of the faithful, and he had realised now
for some time that she had gone over to the enemy's
side. But his little sister Hellen was otherwise ;
she who had befriended her schoolfellow, Harriet
Westbrook, when none of the other girls at the
school would speak to her, she, he thought, might
be counted on to send some proof of affection for
her outcast brother. Bysshe therefore wrote to
Hellen, and, bearing in mind his father's vigilance
in intercepting letters, he enclosed it in a note
to his grandfather's huntsman, Allen Etheridge,
who lived at Horsham ; consequently his corre-
spondence would not, as he thought, be liable to
his father's inspection.
368
Married Life
P. B. Shelley to Allen Etheridge
CHESTNUT COTTAGE, KESWICK,
[Postmark : KESWICK,
Dec. 16, 1811].
DEAR ALLEN, — As I think my Sisters are now at
Field Place, I have enclosed you this letter. Put it
into the Summer House at Field Place when no one
sees you ; and when you have put it there, contrive
to let Hellen know that there is a letter for her there :
contrive to let Hellen know, without letting anyone
else know. This you had better manage by letting
one of your little boys watch when she is alone, and
tell her. But use your own discretion if you do not
think this the best way. Remember, Allen, that I
shall not forget you. How is your family going on ?
I hope they enjoy better health. — Yours, &c.
P. B. SHELLEY.
In the fold of the letter is written :
Do not let yourself be seen in it.
[Addressed in a disguised handwriting] :
Mr. ALLEN ETHERIDGE,
Huntsman to Sir B. Shelly, [sic]
Horsham,
Sussex.
P. B. Shelley to Hellen Shelley
[Dec. 1 6, 1811.]
SUMMER HOUSE — EVENING.
MY DEAR HELLEN, — "Shew this letter to no one."
You remember that you once told me that you loved
me. . . If you really love me, shew this letter to no
369 2 A
Shelley in England
one, but answer it as you can. Remember this is the
only proof I can now have that you do love me.
We are now at a great distance from each other,
or at least we shall be : but that is no reason that I
should forget that I am your brother, or you should
forget that you are my sister. Everybody near you
says that I have behaved very ill, and that I can love
no one.
But how do you know that everything that is told
you is true ? A great many people tell a great many
lies, and believe them, but that is no reason that you
are to believe them. Because everybody else hates
me, that is no reason that you should. Think for
yourself, my dear girl, and write to me to tell me
what you think. Where you are now, you cannot do
as you please — you are obliged to submit to other
people. They will not let you walk and read and
think (if they knew your thoughts) just as you like,
though you have as good a right to do it as they.
But if you were with me, you would be with someone
who loved you ; you might run and skip, read, write,
think just as you liked. Then, though you cannot
now be with me, you can write, you can tell me
what you think, and how you get on, on paper. Per-
haps you cannot get a pen and ink, but you can get
pencil, and this will do ; and as nobody can suspect
you, you may easily write, and put your letter into the
Summer House, where I shall be sure to get it. I
watch over you, though you do not think I am near.
I need not tell you how I love you. I know all
that is said of me, but do not you believe it. You
will perhaps think I'm the Devil, but, no, I am only
your brother, who is obliged to be put to these shifts
to get a letter from you.
37°
Married Life
How do you get on with your poetry, and what
books do you read, for you know how anxious I am
that you should improve in every way, though I
don't think music or dancing of much consequence ?
Thinking, and thinking without letting anything but
reason influence your mind, is the great thing. Some
people would tell you that it would be wrong to write
to me ; but how do you know it is ? They do not
tell you why it is wrong. They would scold you for
it, but this would not make it wrong. Let no one
find out that I have written to you. Read this letter
when no one sees you, and with attention. I have not
written to Mary, because I know that she is not firm
and determined like you ; but if you think that she
would not tell, give my love to her, and tell her to write
to me.
I shall not say any more now. Write, and leave
your letter in the Summer House. I shall be sure to
get it if you go there alone and leave it. — Your very
affectionate and true brother,
P. B. SHELLEY.
[Endorsed in disguised handwriting] :
(Open this when alone),
Miss HELLEN SHELLEY.
[Further endorsement in Sir Timothy's handwriting :]
In Dec., 1811, enclosed.
This pathetic appeal shared the fate of Bysshe's
other letters to his family. Etheridge apparently
took both of these epistles, dutiful servant that he
was, to Mr. Shelley, who promptly sent them to his
faithful Whitton.
Shelley in England
Bysshe in the meantime remained at Keswick,
but by the middle of December he was contemplat-
ing a visit from Miss Kitchener (which did not take
place), and after it he was thinking of going to Ireland.
The year 1811, a fateful one in Bysshe's life, came
to a close without any other noteworthy events.
But in the early days of 1812, on January 3, he
addressed his first letter to William Godwin, and,
compared with this, no act in Shelley's career was
more portentous. Shelley was not twenty, Godwin
was nearly fifty-six, when this correspondence began.
The younger man wrote without any introduction,
having but recently learned that Godwin was still
living. He approached him much as a neophyte
might approach his favourite saint, whom he had
found to be living after having venerated him as one
of the dead. ' The name of Godwin," he said, "has
been used to excite in me feelings of reverence and
admiration. I have been accustomed to consider
him a luminary too dazzling for the darkness which
surrounds him. From the earliest period of my
knowledge of his principles, I have ardently desired
to share, on the footing of intimacy, that intellect
which I have delighted to contemplate in its emana-
tions. Considering, then, these feelings, you will
not be surprised at the inconceivable emotions with
372
Married Life
which I learned your existence and your dwelling. I
had enrolled your name in the list of the honourable
dead. I had felt regret that the glory of your being
had passed from this earth of ours. It is not so ;
you still live, and, I firmly believe, are still planning
the welfare of human kind." Bysshe went on to tell
Godwin that his " course had been short, but event-
ful " — which was certainly true — that he was young
and ardent in the cause of philanthropy and truth.
In short, he begged the philosopher to answer his
letter and to think him not unworthy of his friend-
ship, or, in other words, to allow him to sit at his feet.
Godwin's reply was not discouraging, but he com-
plained of the generalising character of Shelley's
letter. So Shelley wrote again at length on January
10, and gave some particulars of his life, his attempts
at authorship, his opinions, and his expulsion from
Oxford. Some references to his father are interesting,
as showing how he viewed him at this time. " I am
the son of a man of fortune in Sussex. The habits
and thinking of my father and myself never coincided.
Passive obedience was inculcated and enforced in
my childhood. I was required to love, because it was
my duty to love. It is scarcely necessary to remark that
coercion obviated its own intention. ... It will be
necessary, in order to elucidate this part of my history,
to inform you that I am heir by entail to an estate
373
Shelley in England
of £6000 per annum. My principles have induced
me to regard the law of primogeniture an evil of
primary magnitude. My father's notions of family
honour are incoincident with my knowledge of public
good. I will never sacrifice the latter to any con-
sideration. My father has ever regarded me as a blot,
a defilement of his honour. He wished to induce me,
by poverty, to accept of some commission in a distant
regiment, and in the interim of my absence to prosecute
the pamphlet, that a process of outlawry might make the
estate, on his death, devolve to my younger brother."
It is hard to believe or, indeed, explain the state-
ment in this last sentence. Perhaps, when Mr.
Shelley had failed to induce Bysshe, after he was
expelled from Oxford, to engage in politics, he had
expressed, in desperation, either to him or to someone
else the wish that he should go into the army. Most
likely it was no more than a fragment of wild talk on
the part of Timothy Shelley that had been retailed to
his son.1 Godwin now expressed " a deep and earnest
1 " You mistake me if you think that I am angry with my father. I
have ever been desirous of a reconciliation with him, but the price which he
demands for it is a renunciation of my opinions, or, at least, a subjection to
conditions which should bind me to act in opposition to their very spirit.
It is probable that my father has acted for my welfare, but the manner in
which he has done so will not allow me to suppose that he has felt for it,
unconnectedly, with certain considerations of birth ; and feeling for these
things was not feeling for me. I never loved my father — it was not from
hardness of heart, for I have loved and do love warmly." — Shelley to
Godwin, Keswick, January 16, 1812.
374
Married Life
interest in the welfare " of his young correspondent,
whose letters to the philosopher continued at frequent
intervals.
During the past few years Shelley had been an
enthusiastic student of Godwin's great work, of the
essays in The Enquirer, and of his novels. The
earliest of these books had been published when
Shelley was in his cradle ; the most recent were some
years old. It was therefore not surprising that he
had put Godwin down "in the list of the honourable
dead."
It was more than fourteen years since William
Godwin had lost his first wife, Mary Wollstonecraft,
and eighteen years had elapsed since he had given
to the world his Enquiry concerning Political Jus-
tice and its Influence on General Virtue and Happi-
ness, the book that had brought him fame, but no
fortune. Godwin had for some years retired from
the excitement of a publicist's career, had married a
second time, and was living the life of a philosopher,
in retreat at Skinner Street, Holborn Hill, where the
Viaduct now stands. His energies were divided be-
tween writing novels and producing books for a small
publishing business known as the " Juvenile Library,"
of which his wife, Mary Jane Godwin, was manager.
Charles and Mary Lamb were Godwin's friends and
the chief authors of the Juvenile Library, in which
375
Shelley in England
their Tales from Shakespeare, Mrs. Leicester's School,
and Lamb's Adventures of Ulysses had first been pub-
lished. Hazlitt had written for the Library an English
Grammar, and Godwin himself compiled, under the
name of " William Baldwin, Esq.," a few educational
books. The publications of the Juvenile Library
sold well, and the business ought to have been suc-
cessful ; but Godwin and his wife were hopeless
muddlers, and the enterprise only launched them
heavily into debt.
The Godwin household was a strangely miscellane-
ous one. There was (i) Godwin, whose philosophical
calm remained unruffled notwithstanding the steadily
rising waters of a flood of debts ; (2) Mrs. Godwin,
a malevolent woman with a shrewish tongue, and the
especial abomination of Charles Lamb, who has im-
mortalised her green spectacles. Then there was (3)
Mary, the daughter of Godwin and Mary Wollstone-
craft ; (4) Fanny Imlay (or Godwin, as she was called),
the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and Imlay ; Mrs.
Godwin's two children by her first husband — (5) Clara
Mary Jane, and (6) Charles Clairmont ; and, lastly,
William Godwin's son (7), William, by his second wife.
It is not surprising that such a mixed family, confined
to the narrow quarters over the shop in Skinner
Street, found it at times difficult to live together in
harmony. Things undoubtedly would have gone more
376
Married Life
smoothly but for the disturbing element of Mrs.
Godwin.
During January Bysshe was preparing for his visit
to Ireland, his object being, as he told Godwin, " prin-
cipally to forward as much as we can the Catholic
Emancipation " ; he also intended to urge the neces-
sity of repealing the Union. The last week at Keswick
was spent under the roof of William Calvert, who,
like Southey, did his best to dissuade Shelley from
his proposed Irish campaign ; but Mrs. Calvert
favoured the idea, and was hearty in her wishes for
the success of Shelley and his party. He was himself
sure of success, and expressed perfect confidence in
the impossibility of failure.1
Mr. Shelley had now arranged for the resumption
of his son's allowance, which, with a similar sum from
Mr. Westbrook, was sufficient for Bysshe's needs.
On receiving the sum of £100 from Whitton he was
ready to start for Dublin, and, with Harriet and Eliza
Westbrook, he probably left Keswick on Sunday,
February 3, and embarked from Whitehaven for the
Isle of Man. After being driven from thence by a
storm to the north of Ireland, they reached Dublin
on the night of February 13. Shelley had written
while at Keswick An Address to the Irish People,
which he printed soon after he arrived at Dublin,
1 Shelley to Miss Hitchener, January 26, 1812.
377
Shelley in England
and he fixed the price of the pamphlet at fivepence,
" because," as he said in the advertisement, "it is
the intention of the Author to awaken in the minds
of the Irish poor a knowledge of their real state,
summarily pointing out the evils of that state, and
suggesting rational means of remedy — Catholic Eman-
cipation and a Repeal of the Union Act (the latter,
the most successful engine that England ever wielded
over the misery of fallen Ireland) being treated of, in
the following Address, as grievances which unanimity
and resolution may remove, and associations, con-
ducted with peaceable firmness, being earnestly re-
commended, as means for embodying that unanimity
and firmness, which must finally be successful." As
soon as it was printed, Bysshe threw copies of this
pamphlet from the balcony of his lodgings in Lower
Sackville Street. " I stand at the balcony of our
window, and watch till I see a man who looks likely —
I throw a book to him." Harriet wrote to Miss
Kitchener : "I'm sure you would laugh were you to
see us give the pamphlets. We throw them out of
the window, and give them to men that we pass in
the streets. For myself, I am ready to die of laughter
when it is done, and Percy looks so grave ; yesterday
he put one into a woman's hood of a cloak. She
knew nothing of it, and we passed her. I could
hardly get on ; my muscles were so irritated."
378
Married Life
Bysshe sent a copy of the Address to Godwin
through the post as a newspaper, "to save expense,"
as he said. It was charged as a letter, and the re-
cipient had to pay a fine of £i, is. Sd., which he did
philosophically. Others who suffered by Shelley's
mode of conveying the pamphlet were Mr. Westbrook
and Miss Kitchener. Perhaps Mr. Shelley was also
a victim, as there is a copy of the Address among
the Shelley-Whitton papers, with corrections in the
author's hand.
Shelley wrote and printed another pamphlet, in
the midst of much other activity, while in Dublin,
with the following comprehensive title, "Proposals
for an Association of those Philanthropists who, con-
vinced of the inadequacy of the moral and political
state of Ireland to produce benefits which are never-
theless attainable, are willing to unite to accomplish
its regeneration."
Among the Shelley-Whitton papers there is a copy
of the Dublin Weekly Messenger for Saturday, March 7,
1812, with the following article, marked in red pencil,
headed :
" Pierce By she Shelly, Esq. [sic]
"The highly interesting appearance of this young
gentleman at the late Aggregate Meeting of the
Catholics of Ireland has naturally excited a spirit of
inquiry as to his objects and views in coming forward
379
Shelley in England
at such a meeting ; and the publications which he
has circulated with such uncommon industry, through
the Metropolis, has set curiosity on the wing to ascer-
tain who he is, from whence he comes, and what his
pretensions are to the confidence he solicits and the
character he assumes. To those who have read the
productions we have alluded to, we need bring for-
ward no evidence of the cultivation of his mind,
the benignity of his principles, or the peculiar fasci-
nation with which he seems able to recommend
them.
" Of this gentleman's family we can say but little,
but we can set down what we have heard from re-
spectable authority : that his father is a member of
the Imperial Parliament, and that this young gentle-
man whom we have seen is the immediate heir of one
of the first fortunes in England. Of his principles
and his manners we can say more, because we can
collect from conversation, as well as from reading,
that he seems devoted to the propagation of those
divine and Christian feelings which purify the human
heart, give shelter to the poor and consolation to
the unfortunate : that he is the bold and intrepid
advocate of those principles which are calculated to
give energy to truth, and to depose from their guilty
eminence the bad and vicious passions of a corrupt
community ; that a universality of charity is his
object, and a perfectibility of human society his end,
which cannot be attained by the conflicting dogmas of
religious sects, each priding itself on the extinction of
the other, and all existing by the mutual misfortunes
which flow from polemical warfare. The principles
of this young gentleman embrace all sects and all
persuasions. His doctrines, political and religious,
380
Married Life
may be accommodated to all; every friend to true
Christianity will be his religious friend, and every
enemy to the liberties of Ireland will be his political
enemy. The weapons he wields are those of reason
and the most social benevolence. He deprecates vio-
lence in the accomplishment of his views, and relies
upon the mild and merciful spirit of toleration for
the completion of all his designs and the consumma-
tion of all his wishes. To the religious bigot such a
missionary of truth is a formidable opponent ; by the
political monopolist he will be considered the child of
Chimera, the creature of fancy, an imaginary legis-
lator who presumes to make laws without reflecting
upon his materials, and despises those considerations
which have baffled the hopes of the most philanthropic
and the efforts of the most wise. It is true, human
nature may be too depraved for such a hand as Mr.
Shelly's to form to anything that is good, or liberal,
or beneficent. Let him but take down one of the
rotten pillars by which society is now propped, and
substitute the purity of his own principles, and Mr.
Shelly shall have done a great and lasting service to
human nature. To this gentleman Ireland is much
indebted for selecting her as the theatre of his first
attempts in this holy work of human regeneration.
The Catholics in Ireland should listen to him with
respect, because they will find that an enlightened
Englishman has interposed between the treason of
their own countrymen and the almost conquered
spirit of their country ; that Mr. Shelly has come
to Ireland to demonstrate in his person that there
are hearts in his own country not rendered callous by
six hundred years of injustice ; and that the genius
of freedom, which has communicated comfort and
381
Shelley in England
content to the cottage of the Englishman, has found
its way to the humble roof of the Irish peasant, and
promises by its presence to dissipate the sorrows of
past ages, to obliterate the remembrance of persecu-
tion, and close the long and wearisome scene of cen-
turies of human depression. We extract from Mr.
Shelly's last production, which he calls Proposals
for an Association, &c. &c"
After quoting some extracts from this pamphlet, the
writer continues :
" We have but one more word to add. Mr. Shelly,
commiserating the sufferings of our distinguished
countryman, Mr. Finerty, whose exertions in the cause
of political freedom he much admired, wrote a very
beautiful poem, the profits of which, we understand
from undoubted authority, Mr. Shelly remitted to Mr.
Finerty ; we have heard they amounted to nearly
a hundred pounds. This fact speaks a volume in
favour of our new friend." *
Perhaps the reason for the copy of this paper being
among Whitton's papers is that it may have been sent
to Mr. Shelley by Bysshe. The proceedings of the
meeting which took place on Friday, February 28,
at the Fishamble Street Theatre were noticed in
several Irish papers and in the London Morning
Chronicle, which said the theatre " was brilliantly
illuminated. . . . The boxes were filled with ladies,
1 See an/e, p. 150.
382
Married Life
full dressed, and the whole is represented as having a
very imposing effect." The articles from the Weekly
Messenger, and reports from other Dublin papers, are
given in the late Mr. D. F. MacCarthy's work, Shelley's
Early Life, which contains a full account of the Irish
expedition.
Another reference to Shelley's doings in Ireland,
preserved with the Shelley-Whitton papers, is the
following cutting from a Lewes newspaper, on which
Mr. Shelley wrote, " Lewes Paper, ist June, 1812."
Apparently it relates to the Address to the Irish People,
and it was perhaps forwarded to the editor by Miss
Kitchener, as Shelley wrote to her on March 10, " Send
me the Sussex papers. Insert, or make them insert,
the account of me. It may have a good effect on the
minds of the people, as a preparation." Harriet adds
in her contribution to the same letter, " Send us the
paper in which you have inserted the Address"
The editor of the Lewes paper, however, did not
take kindly to the suggestion, and declined to fill his
columns with Shelley's pamphlet. He said :
" We have been favoured with the address of
P. B. S., Esq., and entertain no doubt of his benevo-
lent and humane intentions. Nevertheless, after due
consideration, we are of opinion that any especial
notice of the accompanying letter would have a ten-
dency to defeat the ends he has in view, as a public
exposure of the accused parties, however just, might
383
Shelley in England
irritate their minds and lead them to direct, with
greater severity, the lash of tyranny and oppres-
sion against the object of his commiseration, who
appears to be completely within their power."
Shelley was evidently anxious that his friends in
Sussex should hear of his activities in Ireland. He
wrote on March 20 to the elder Medwin : "As you will
see by the Lewes paper, I am in the midst of over-
whelming engagements." The news had already
reached Field Place if he sent his father the copy of his
pamphlet, and Whitton had probably received it when
he wrote to Sir Bysshe on March 5 : "I was much
concerned to hear your account of Mr. Timothy
Shelley [who was evidently ill] . His son is in Dublin,
publishing some hints for bettering the state of the
nation."
Shelley spent a part of his time in preparing a
volume of poems for the press and in endeavouring
to get them published, but the Dublin publisher to
whom he applied held up the MS., and the book was
never printed during the author's lifetime. Some
seventy years later, Shelley's grandson, Mr. Charles
Esdaile, who subsequently owned the MS., allowed
Professor Dowden to print extracts from the poems
in his Life of Shelley.
Shelley also managed to make some acquaintances
during his sojourn in the Irish capital, one of whom
384
Married Life
was John Lawless, or " honest Jack Lawless," as he
was called by his friends, who was perhaps responsible
for the article on the young politician in the Weekly
Messenger. Curran was another, and a greater, Irish-
man whom he met through the introduction of Godwin.
Godwin, indeed, who was never long out of Shelley's
mind, was the recipient of many letters which kept
him posted with intelligence concerning the progress
of the campaign. Shelley, moreover, acquainted
Godwin with his opinions generally, his views on life,
and the doings of his domestic circle.
' You speak of my wife," he said ; " she desires with
me to you, and to all connected with you, her best
regards. She is a woman whose pursuits, hopes,
fears, and sorrows were so similar to my own that we
married a few months ago. I hope in the course of
this year to introduce her to you and yours, as I have
introduced myself to you. It is only to those who
have had some share in making me what I am that I
can be thus free. Adieu ! You will hear from me
shortly. Give my love and respects to everyone
with whom you are connected. I feel myself almost
at your fireside. . . . I send the little book for which
I was expelled. I have not changed my sentiments.
I know that Milton believed Christianity, but I do
not forget that Virgil believed ancient mythology."
Godwin told Shelley that he had read his letters
385 2B
Shelley in England
(" the first perhaps excepted ") " with peculiar inte-
rest." As far as he had been able to penetrate his
character, he conceived "it to exhibit an extra-
ordinary assemblage of lovely qualities, not without
considerable defects." The source of the defects, he
thought, was that Shelley was very young, and that,
in essential respects, he did not sufficiently perceive
that he was so. Godwin expressed his disagreement
with the principles set forth by Shelley in his pam-
phlets as strongly as he disapproved of his visit to
Ireland, and he regretted that the effect of Political
Justice on his young friend should have resulted in
his campaign. He said, " Shelley, you are preparing
a scene of blood ! If your associations take effect to
any extensive degree, tremendous consequences will
follow, and hundreds, by their calamitous and pre-
mature fate, will expiate your error." Godwin con-
tinued, " I wish to my heart you would come im-
mediately to London. I have a friend who has con-
trived a tube to convey passengers sixty miles an
hour. Be youth your tube ! I have a thousand things
I could say orally, more than I can say in a letter
on this important subject. Away ! You cannot
imagine how much all the females of my family,
Mrs. G. and three daughters, are interested in your
letters and history."
Shelley was either tired of his Irish expedition, or,
386
Married Life
as he told Godwin, he was ready to take the advice
of his guide, philosopher, and friend — to whom he
wrote on March 19 that he had already withdrawn
the circulation of his publications wherein he had
erred, and that he was preparing to quit Dublin.
The Shelleys left Dublin on April 4, and after a
rough passage of thirty-six hours (instead of twelve,
as they had expected) they reached Holyhead. On
April 7 they began a journey across Wales in search
of a house, and their wanderings led them to Nant-
gwillt, Rhayader, Radnorshire, in South Wales, a
district already familiar to Shelley through his visit
to his cousins, the Groves. The place that he settled
in was a farm of about 200 acres, with a good house,
at a yearly rent of £98, which he thought " abundantly
cheap/' and so it may have been, had he intended to
turn farmer and live up to the description which he
had given himself when he was married at Edinburgh.
The proprietor of the house was a bankrupt, and his
assignees had offered the lease, stock, and furniture
of the premises to Shelley, who was "anxious to
purchase." So anxious was he to take advantage of
this offer that he wrote on April 25 to Medwin that
the assignees were willing to give him credit for
eighteen months or longer, as his being a minor his
signature was invalid. " Would you object to join
your name to my bond, or, rather, to pledge yourself
387
Shelley in England
for my standing by the agreement when I come of
age ? The sum is likely to be six or seven hundred
pounds." The Horsham lawyer no doubt refused,
as he had already made enough trouble for himself
with Mr. Shelley by lending Bysshe money on the
eve of his departure for Edinburgh. The day before
writing this letter to Medwin he had sent the following
to his father :
P. B. Shelley to Timothy Shelley
NANTGWILT, RHAYADER,
RADNORSHIRE,
April 24, 1812.
DEAR SIR, — The last of your communications
through Mr. Whitton put a period to any immediate
prospect of coming to those amicable terms on which
I wish to stand with yourself and my family. It
has at last occurred to me that the probable cause
of the offence which you so suddenly took, was a
clandestine attempt on my part to correspond with
Hellen. You very well know that I could not corre-
spond with any of my sisters openly, and that it is very
natural for me to attempt to keep alive in one at
least an affection when all the others are at variance
with one. An additional motive was that my corre-
spondence would have been such as is calculated to
improve the understanding and expand the heart. I
am now at Nantgwilt in Radnorshire, and being de-
sirous to settle with my wife in a retired spot, think of
taking this house and farm. The farm is about 200
acres, the house a very good one, the yearly rent £98.
388
Married Life
The furniture and the stock must, however, be pur-
chased, which will cost £500. This sum, if I were to
raise it, would not be obtained under exorbitant
interest, and probably, at all events, with difficulty.
If you would advance it to me, I should at once,
by your means, be settled where my yearly income
would amply suffice, which would otherwise be dissi-
pated in searching for a situation where it might
maintain myself and my wife. You have now an
opportunity of settling the heir to your property
where he may quietly and gentlemanly pursue those
avocations which are calculated hereafter to render
him no disgrace to your family on a more extended
theatre of action.
If you feel inclined to assist me with the sum for the
purposes I mention, and it is inconvenient to give any
ready money, your name for the amount would suffice.
I am now at the house of Mr. Hooper (Nantgwilt),
who has become bankrupt, and with whose assignees
I am treating for the lease, furniture, &c. If you
will accede to my request, or if you reject it, pray be
so kind as to inform me as soon as you can make it
convenient, as I am at present in a state of suspense
which is far from pleasant.
Your daughter-in-law is confined by a tedious in-
termittent fever, which considerably augments the
gloomy feelings incident to our unsettled state. I
hope that all at Field Place are in good health. — Dear
Sir, yours very respectfully,
PERCY B. SHELLEY.
[Addressed] :
T. SHELLEY, Esq., M.P., [Readdressed] :
Field Place, " Miller's Hotel,
Horsham, Sussex. Westminster Bridge.
389
Shelley in England
Mr. Shelley replied curtly to the letter through
Whitton, on May 5, that he declined making the
advance that Bysshe had mentioned, or to give any
security.
In their letters to Elizabeth Kitchener she had
received frequent appeals from Bysshe and Harriet
to visit, or, indeed, to take up her residence with
them. They asked her to come to Keswick, and when
she was unable to accept their invitation, it was
decided that on their return from Ireland she should
pay her long-deferred visit in Wales. She still hesi-
tated, because to be absent from her school for any
length of time would necessitate closing it.
Miss Kitchener had evidently broached the subject
to Mrs. Pilfold, and spoken in glowing terms of her
ardent young correspondent. Mrs. Pilfold could make
nothing of this platonic friendship, and chose to add
a questionable colour to it. She was anxious not to
lose her schoolmistress, and was determined to stop
Miss Kitchener's visit to the Shelleys. Busybodies
were soon active at Cuckfield, and Miss Kitchener
was quick to communicate the scandal to Bysshe.
He was depressed when these unwelcome tidings
reached him, for Harriet was ill with a bilious fever,
so he wrote to his friend : "A week ago I said,
' Give me Nantgwilt ; fix me in this spot, so retired,
so lovely, so fit for the seclusion of those who think
390
Married Life
and feel. Fate, I ask no more.' Little then did I
expect my Harriet's illness, or that flaming opposi-
tion which the mischievous and credulous around
you are preparing against the most cherished wishes
of my heart. Now I say, ' Fate, give my Harriet
health, give my Portia peace, and I will excuse the
remainder of my requisition.' Oh, my beloved friend,
let not the sweet cup be dashed from the lips of those
who alone can appreciate the luxury, at the instant
that Fate has yielded it to their power ! " l He
referred to the subject in his next letter to " Portia "
(the name that Bysshe and Harriet had given to
Eliza Kitchener) : " And so our dear friends are
determined to destroy our peace of mind if we live to-
gether— determined, all for our good, to make us all
the most miserable wretches on earth. Now this,
it must be confessed, is truly humane and conde-
scending. But how is it to be managed ? Where will
they begin ? In what manner will they destroy our
peace of mind without eradicating that conscious
integrity whence it springs ? " Bysshe had written
to the Captain and to Miss Kitchener's father to try
and allay the scandal. The Captain's reply was that
reports were current such as Miss Kitchener had
described, but " he professed to disbelieve the ' Mis-
tress ' business, but asserted that I certainly was
1 Shelley to Miss Hitchener, May i, 1812.
391
Shelley in England
very much attached to you. I certainly should feel
quite as much inclined to deny my own existence as
to deny this latter charge ; altho' I took care to assure
him that, in the vague sense which he had annexed
to the word ' love,' he was utterly mistaken." l
The result of this gossip was to further postpone
Portia's visit. For one thing, Shelley had not been
successful in coming to any arrangement for the
possession of Nantgwillt, as the possessor was not
disposed to let him remain without security, which
he was unable to obtain. He had decided to go for
a short time to the Groves at Cwm Elan, but before
he left Nantgwillt he wrote to his grandfather. He
may have thought that if he could produce a letter
from Sir Bysshe stating what he was prepared to do
for him, that it might be accepted as a security by
the possessor of the Nantgwillt property.
P. B. Shelley to Sir Bysshe Shelley
NANTGWILT, RHAYADER,
RADNORSHIRE, S.W.,
June 2, 1812.
SIR, — I take the liberty of writing to you in con-
sequence of a hint which I haverecieved [sic], preferring
in cases of importance to negociate with principals.
I had heard that you designed, on my coming of
age, to enter into some terms with me, respecting
1 Shelley to Miss Kitchener, May 7, 1812.
392
Married Life
money matters, which terms, if at all compatible with
my own interest, believe me I shall be ready to
accede to.
Altho' at present in circumstances that very much
require assistance, I do not venture to ask for any
remittance from you, knowing that all acts of a minor
are void in law, but you would very much oblige me
if you would state to me the nature of the terms
about to be proposed on the expiration of my minority,
to which I am not so adverse as I may have been
represented.
I am now about to take the place whence I date
this letter. — I remain, with much respect, your aff.
Grandson, P. B. SHELLEY.
[Addressed] :
Sir BYSSHE SHELLEY, Bt.,
Horsham,
Sussex.
After a short stay at Cwm Elan, the Shelleys moved
to Lynmouth. While they were there, Bysshe issued
from the office of a Barnstaple printer his " Letter
to Lord Ellenborough, occasioned by the Sentence
which he passed on Mr. D. I. Eaton, as Publisher of
the Third Part of Paine's Age of Reason." In this
little pamphlet Shelley first gave proof of his gifts as
a writer of prose. It was, however, as short-lived as
The Necessity of Atheism. The printer, on examining
the contents of the pamphlet, destroyed most of the
impression, and all save one 1 of seventy-five copies
1 This unique copy is now in the Bodleian Library.
393
Shelley in England
which Shelley despatched to his friend Hookham, the
Bond Street publisher, met a similar fate.
Shelley had caused to be printed, probably while
he was in Dublin, a broadside which he described as
a " Declaration of Rights," consisting of a number
of sentences, drawn up in the form of appeals to
the people similar to those placarded on the walls
and houses of Paris during the French Revolution.
His hurried departure from Ireland, and Godwin's
grave warning, had probably decided him not to
make use of this form of propaganda in Dublin. He
was, however, unable to withstand the temptation of
trying the effect of the broadsides on the people of
Devon, and he engaged a man to fix them on the walls
of Barnstaple. The man was arrested and sentenced
to a fine of £200 or six months' imprisonment. Shelley,
who was unable to meet the fine, promised to pay a
sum of fifteen shillings a week in consideration of a
mitigation of the sentence. This was one of the
causes that brought Shelley's visit to Lynmouth to
an end.
Miss Kitchener, who was no longer able to with-
stand Bysshe's insistent invitations, decided to visit
her friends at Lynmouth. Accordingly she closed her
school, started on her journey, and in passing through
London supped and slept at the Godwins' house on
394
Married Life
July 14. It is possible that the pleasure anticipated
by Shelley in having her under his roof was speedily
abated, if it was ever realised. Harriet was evidently
not much impressed with her guest when she wrote
on August 4 to Catherine Nugent, an acquaintance
whom she had made in Dublin : " Our friend, Miss
Kitchener, is come to us. She is very busy writing
for the good of mankind. She is very dark in com-
plexion, with a great quantity of black hair. She
talks a great deal. If you like great talkers, she will
suit you. She is taller than me or my sister, and as
thin as it is possible to be. I hope you will see her
some day."
Very soon Harriet began to suspect that Portia
was in love with Bysshe, who, so far from recipro-
cating these feelings, now doubted her republicanism
and sincerity. It was a painful position for the poor
woman ; her head had been turned by her young
friend's passionate letters, and she was unable to live
up to the ideal that he had created of her.
The Shelleys hastily left Lynmouth apparently
towards the end of August, and, crossing the Bristol
Channel, settled at length near Tremadoc in a house
called Tanyrallt. Here Bysshe found a fresh field for
his energies. His landlord, Mr. W. A. Maddocks, M.P.,
had reclaimed from the sea a large tract of marshland
in Carnarvonshire, and had built upon it the new
395
Shelley in England
town of Tremadoc, which had been named after its
enterprising founder. At the time of Shelley's visit
to the town an embankment was in the course of
construction to protect Tremadoc from danger of
destruction by the sea. Shelley became keenly in-
terested in the fate of the embankment, and besides
canvassing the neighbourhood for subscriptions, he
headed the list with a sum of £100, and went up
to London with his wife, Eliza Westbrook, and Miss
Kitchener to forward his object. Bysshe applied to
the Duke of Norfolk for a contribution, but, according
to Hogg, the Duke politely declined, excusing himself
on the score of having no funds at his immediate
disposal.1
Bysshe was now as anxious to arrange the de-
parture of Miss Hitchener as he had been to welcome
her under his roof. It was no easy task, but at last
she was induced to leave on or before November 8,
having received the promise of an allowance of £100
1 Shelley was so embarrassed at this time for want of money that he
appears to have been actually arrested for debt. The only available
information on this subject is contained in a letter, dated June 12, 1844,
from William Roberts, a surgeon of Carnarvon, to Peacock, Shelley's
executor. Roberts stated that some thirty years previously Shelley was
arrested at Carnarvon for a sum of money which he owed, and he would
have been sent to gaol if Roberts had not bailed him for the amount.
Roberts, who thus became acquainted with Shelley and visited him at
Tremadoc, lent him £30, which sum he never paid, but he discharged
the debt for which he was arrested. In another letter addressed to Sir
Timothy Shelley on February 7, 1824, Roberts asked for the payment
of a sum of £6, which he said was owing to him from Shelley.
396
Married Life
a year. " ' The Brown Demon/ " wrote Bysshe, on
December 3, to Hogg (with whom he was now recon-
ciled), " as we now call our late tormentor and school-
mistress, must receive her stipend. I pay it with a
heavy heart and an unwilling hand ; but it must be
so. She was deprived by our misjudging haste of
a situation, where she was going on smoothly ; and
now she says that her reputation is gone, her health
ruined, her peace of mind destroyed by my barbarity —
a complete victim to all the woes, mental and bodily,
that heroine ever suffered ! This is not all fact ; but
certainly she is embarrassed and poor, and we, being
in some degree the cause, we ought to obviate it."
That he thought her " artful, superficial, ugly," and
worse, was no excuse for Bysshe's treatment of his
former friend. He declared that his astonishment at
his fatuity, inconsistency, and bad taste was never
so great as after living four months with her as an
inmate. " What would Hell be," he added, " were
such a woman in Heaven ? "
397
CHAPTER XIV
PARTING FROM HARRIET
Shelley meets Mary Godwin — The assault at Tanyrallt — Ireland
revisited — Queen Mob — The birth of lanthe — London — Duke of
Norfolk — The Godwins — J. F. Newton — Mrs. Boinville — Bracknell
— Shelley revisits the Lakes and Edinburgh — T. L. Peacock —
Elephantiasis — Money difficulties — Shelley's last visit to Field
Place — Shelley remarried — Mary Godwin — Shelley takes leave of
Harriet.
WHILE Shelley and Harriet were in London during
the autumn of 1812, they did not omit to visit the
Godwins, and they saw them frequently ; but a dinner
at their house on October n calls for particular
attention. It was on this occasion that Bysshe prob-
ably met Mary Godwin, his future wife, for the first
time. She had been spending the summer with her
friends, the Baxters, in Scotland, but she returned
home on the previous day. Mary, who had at the
time but lately passed her fifteenth year, perhaps did
not specially attract Bysshe's attention.
By the first week in December Bysshe had left
London and was back at Tanyrallt, where he remained
with Harriet and Eliza Westbrook till the following
March. His departure was precipitated by an assault
398
Parting from Harriet
made on him during the night of February 26, 1813,
by a half-witted sheep-farmer.
For ninety-two years the mystery of this attack
remained unsolved, and the account of it given by
Bysshe, which is now proved to have been correct,
has been described by many of the poet's biographers
as either an hallucination of his brain or a trick to
escape from his creditors at Tremadoc. Miss Margaret
L. Crofts contributed to the Century Magazine for
October 1905 a well-attested account of Shelley's
adventure. In his wanderings over the mountains he
had sometimes come on sheep that were dying of scab
or some other lingering disease, and out of pity for
these helpless creatures he would put an end to their
sufferings by a kindly shot from the pistol which he
usually carried. A rough Welsh mountain sheep-
farmer was so exasperated by Shelley's well-meant
ministrations that he and his friends went down to
Tanyrallt one stormy night in February, and the
farmer discharged a shot through the window with the
intention of giving Shelley a good fright. Shelley
fired, but his pistol flashed in the pan, whereupon the
farmer entered the room, wrestled with him, and finally
knocked him down. The rough face and figure of the
farmer gave Shelley the impression that he saw the
devil when he looked out at the man standing by
a beech tree. The assailants gained their end, for
399
Shelley in England
Shelley, Harriet, and her sister left the house the next
day and journeyed to Bangor on their way to Ireland.
After a stormy passage Shelley with the two ladies
reached Dublin on March 9. Their object in revisiting
the Irish capital was apparently nothing more than
a desire to get away from the scenes of that ugly
night at Tremadoc. During his previous visit Shelley
had been too busy to see any of the beauties of Irish
scenery, but on this occasion he made good the omis-
sion by going to Lake Killarney, where, according to
Hogg, he occupied a cottage. The place made a deep
and lasting impression on him, for he wrote to Peacock
from Milan, some years after, that " Lake Como ex-
ceeds anything that I ever beheld in beauty, with
the exception of the Arbutus Islands of Killarney."
Hogg had been invited to visit Shelley at Tanyrallt,
but owing to the poet's hasty flight from that place,
it was abandoned, and he was asked to come to Dublin.
He journeyed to the Irish capital, only to find that the
Shelley s had gone to Killarney, and after waiting a
week or ten days for them he returned to England,
vexed at his fruitless quest.
During his sojourn at Dublin, Shelley had sent
Hookham the manuscript of Queen Mab, the writing
of which had occupied him for some months. He had
referred to the poem in his letter to Hookham of
August 1 8, 1812, and enclosed, by way of specimen,
400
Parting from Harriet
all that he had written of it at that date. He said,
" I conceive that I have matter enough for six more
cantos. You will perceive that I have not attempted
to temper my constitutional enthusiasm in that poem.
Indeed, a poem is safe ; the iron-souled Attorney-
General would scarcely dare to attack it. The Past,
the Present, and the Future are the grand and com-
prehensive topics of this poem. I have not yet ex-
hausted the second of them." He proposed to make
the notes to Queen Mob long, philosophical, and anti-
Christian, and to take the opportunity, he judged
a safe one, of propagating his principles, which, he
said, " I decline to do syllogistically in a poem. A
poem very didactic is, I think, very stupid." He
wished to have " only 250 copies printed, in a small
neat quarto on fine paper, and so as to catch the
aristocrats. They will not read it, but their sons and
daughters may." Hookham, who probably superin-
tended the printing of the poem, in small octavo,
did not put his name to it nor that of the actual
printer. The title-page of the volume, which was
issued privately by Shelley, bears his own name as
printer with the address of his father-in-law, 23 Chapel
Street, Grosvenor Square, and the famous epigraph
from Voltaire's correspondence, " Ecrasez 1'infame."
Towards the end of March Shelley and Harriet
departed for Dublin in great haste, and left Miss
401 2C
Shelley in England
Westbrook at Killarney with a large library, but
without money, so that, as Hogg said, she might not
be tempted to discontinue her studies. By April 5,
Shelley and his wife were in London at Chapel Street,
and after staying for a few days at an hotel in Albe-
marle Street they took lodgings in Half-Moon Street,
where they remained for several months. Hogg
describes a little projecting window in the house, in
which Shelley might be seen from the street all day
long, book in hand, with lively gestures and bright
eyes, so that Mrs. Newton said, " He wanted only
a pan of clear water and a fresh turf to look
like some young lady's lark hanging outside for air
and song." l
During the summer of this year (1813), when the
Shelleys were living somewhere in Pimlico, Harriet
gave birth to her first-born, a girl, who was named
lanthe Elizabeth. Apparently lanthe was of Shelley's
choosing, after the Lady in Queen Mob ; Elizabeth
was the name of his favourite sister as well also as that
of Harriet's sister. lanthe Shelley, who became Mrs.
Esdaile, died in June 1876, and her descendants are
Shelley's only living representatives.
Once more Bysshe wrote to his father in the hope
of a reconciliation, and, according to a statement in
one of Harriet's letters, he expected to be forgiven.
1 Hogg's Life of Shelley, vol. ii. p. 389.
402
Parting from Harriet
She said that Mr. Shelley's family were Very eager to
be reconciled to Bysshe. Mr. Shelley's reply, how-
ever, was unfavourable.
P. B. Shelley to Timothy Shelley
COOKE'S HOTEL,
ALBEMARLE ST.,
May 4, 1813.
MY DEAR FATHER, — I once more presume to address
you to state to you my sincere desire of being con-
sidered as worthy of a restoration to the intercourse
of yourself and your family, which I forfeited by my
follies.
Some time since I stated my feelings on this subject
in a letter to the Duke of Norfolk. I was agreeably
surprised by a visit from him the other day, and much
regretted that illness prevented me from keeping my
appointment with him on the succeeding morning.
If, however, I could convince you of the change that
has taken place in some of the most unfavourable
traits of my character and of my willingness to make
any concession that may be judged best for the inte-
rest of my family, I flatter myself that there would
be little further need of his Grace's interference.
I hope the time is approaching when we shall con-
sider each other as father and son with more con-
fidence than ever, and that I shall no longer be a cause
of disunion to the happiness of my family. I was
happy to hear from John Grove, who dined with us
yesterday, that you continue in good health. My
wife unites with me in respectful regards.1
1 From Hogg's Life of Shelley.
Shelley in England
Mr. Shelley replied in a letter, prompted by his
solicitor,1 that put an end to any hopes that Bysshe
may have entertained.
Timothy Shelley to P. B. Shelley
MILLER'S HOTEL,
May 26, 1813.
MY DEAR BOY, — I am sorry to find by the contents
of your letter of yesterday that I was mistaken in the
conclusion I drew from your former letter, in which
you had assured me that a change had taken place in
some of the most unfavourable Traits in your Char-
acter, as what regards your avow'd opinions are in my
Judgment the most material parts of Character re-
quiring amendment ; and as you now avow there is
no change effected in them, I must decline all further
Communication, or any Personal Interview, until that
shall be Effected, and I desire you will consider this
as my final answer to anything vou may have to
offer.
If that Conclusion had not operated on my mind
to give this answer, I desire you also to understand
that I should not have received any Communication
but through His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, as I know
his exalted mind will protect me at the moment, and
with the World. I beg to return all usual remem-
brance.— I am, Yr. Affecti. Father,
T. SHELLEY.
Bysshe wrote to the Duke of Norfolk, on May 28,
to thank him for the warm interest that he had taken
1 Whitton in his minute book writes on May 20, 1813 : " Letter to
Mr. Shelley advising on the letter to P. B."
404
Parting from Harriet
in his concerns, and expressing regret that he should
have occupied his time in " the vain and impossible
task of reconciling " him and his father. Bysshe was
prepared to make every reasonable concession to
Mr. Shelley, but he was not, he said, " so degraded and
miserable a slave as publicly to disavow an opinion
which I believe to be true." Bysshe enclosed his father's
reply, with this letter, for the Duke's inspection.
Bysshe came of age on August 4, 1813, but appar-
ently he now had small prospect of immediately
obtaining a settlement as regards his affairs. He
had some debts, contracted in view of being in a
position to liquidate them on attaining his majority,
and they were now pressing. Despite Mr. Shelley's
threat that he would not receive his son, Bysshe
managed to see his father and to tell him that he had
heard that efforts were on foot to deprive him of his
interest in the estates under the will of his great-
uncle, John Shelley. This was, of course, a baseless
rumour. Mr. Shelley received his son kindly, but the
interview had no beneficial result for him. Field Place
was still forbidden ground, although Bysshe managed
to correspond with his sisters and mother, from whom
he received letters, his mother keeping him posted up
in all the news regarding his father's movements.
Bysshe found much to interest him in town. Queen
Mob was probably now about to be issued, and he
405
Shelley in England
would constantly be in and out of the shop of Thomas
Hookham, the friendly little publisher of New Bond
Street, who apparently superintended the printing of
the poem. The book was printed for private circu-
lation, and Bysshe distributed the copies himself,
but before doing so he cut out from many of them the
title-page and the imprint at the end of the volume, as
in both places his name appeared as the printer.
This precaution was taken in order to avoid the danger
of prosecution. From most of the copies "that passed
through his hands, the deeply appreciative dedication
to Harriet was also removed. The volume bears the
date of 1813, but as far as I am aware there is no
published evidence as to the exact month when it
was ready. The removal of the dedication by the
author may indicate that it was put into circulation
at the end of 1813, or possibly the beginning of 1814,
when Shelley and Harriet were drifting apart, or that
the copies so treated by him were distributed during,
or after, that painful period of his life.
Bysshe and his wife did not see much of Godwin
because, as Harriet wrote to Miss Nugent, " his wife
is so dreadfully disagreeable that I could not bear
the idea of seeing her. Mr. S. has done that away,
tho', by telling G. that I could not bear the society of
his darling wife. Poor man, we are not the only
people who find her troublesome."
406
Parting from Harriet
Through Godwin, however, Shelley had made the
acquaintance, when he visited London in the autumn
of 1812, of John Frank Newton, author of The Return
to Nature, or a Defence of the Vegetable Regimen, 1811.
With his strong leanings towards vegetarianism Shelley
was attracted to Newton and his book, and made use
of the former in his vegetarian note in Queen Mab,
which was subsequently printed as a separate pamph-
let as A Vindication of Natural Diet.
At the Newtons' house in Chester Square Bysshe
was admitted to a circle of people whose tastes and
ideas he found very congenial. Besides Newton and
his wife there were Mrs. Boinville, sister to Mrs.
Newton, and her daughter Cornelia, who afterwards
became Mrs. Turner. In a letter from Shelley to
Hogg belonging to the summer of 1813, he speaks of
what was undoubtedly for him an unusual diversion :
late hours and Vauxhall Gardens. " Last night your
short note arrived, also beyond its hour, and the
Newtons had already taken me with them. This
night the Newtons have a party at Vauxhall ; if you
will call here at nine o'clock we will go together."
In July Shelley, Harriet,- and the inevitable Eliza
went to Bracknell, where they took a furnished house,
" High Elms," with the intention of remaining
there until the following spring. The Newtons had
been kind and helpful to Shelley, and Mrs. Boinville,
407
Shelley in England
who was especially interested in him, moved to
Bracknell, where the intimacy of the two families
continued. Mrs. Boinville and Mrs. Newton were the
daughters of a wealthy West Indian planter who
resided in England. His house was the resort of
many a French emigre, and one of them, M. de Boin-
ville, a man of position whose property had been
confiscated, declared his love to Miss Collins, but, as
the match was objected to by her father, they eloped,
and were married at Gretna Green, and afterwards
according to the rites of the Church of England.
M. de Boinville went to Russia with Napoleon, and
died during the retreat from Moscow in 1813, and
shortly afterwards Mrs. Boinville lost her father.
Her hair had become quite white through this double
sorrow, but her face still retained much of its youthful
beauty, and Shelley had named her Maimuna, after
the lady in Southey's Thalaba, for
" Her face was as a damsel's face,
And yet her hair was grey."
Shelley was becoming restless again towards the
autumn of 1813. He gave up his house at Bracknell,
and his thoughts turned once more towards Wales,
but early in October he seems to have contemplated
revisiting the Lakes. He had procured a carriage
some months before, and in this he travelled north
408
Parting from Harriet
with Harriet, their little daughter, and Thomas Love
Peacock. They went by way of Warwick, and after a
week's journey from London they reached Low Wood
Inn, near Windermere. After visiting the Calverts
at Keswick, and failing to obtain a house, they decided
on Edinburgh, and arrived there some days later.
Peacock, who was on a visit to Bracknell when
Shelley persuaded him to accompany him on this
journey, tells us that he saw the poet for the first
time in 1812 just before he went to Tanyrallt. Shelley,
in a letter to Hogg from Edinburgh, thus describes
Peacock, with whose poetry he was already familiar,
and it had won his admiration, but his estimate of
the man was not very enthusiastic. " A new ac-
quaintance is on a visit with us this winter. He is a
very mild, agreeable man, and a good scholar. His
enthusiasm is not very ardent, nor his views very
comprehensive : but he is neither superstitious, ill-
tempered, dogmatical, or proud."
When Shelley became better acquainted with Pea-
cock he appreciated to the full the good qualities of
the " laughing philosopher/' Peacock seems to have
taken more trouble than any other of Shelley's friends
to induce him to find pleasure in some of the good
things of this world, which he was inclined to neglect,
partly owing to his habits of seclusion. Peacock
interested himself in Shelley's Greek studies, and some
409
Shelley in England
years later took him to the opera, and endeavoured
to induce him to cultivate a more generous diet : his
prescription was " two mutton chops well peppered."
The diet agreed with the poet, and he was not averse
from the opera, but he went on with neither. It is
possible that Peacock appreciated Shelley more than
his poetry : this seems to have been the case with
most of Bysshe's friends ; Byron, perhaps, being the
one exception.
Shelley was at times subject to strange delusions,
but, towards the end of 1813, he was troubled by a
most extraordinary one. Peacock, who is our autho-
rity, tells us that " he fancied that a fat old woman
who sat opposite to him in a mail-coach was afflicted
with elephantiasis, that the disease was infectious and
incurable, and that he had caught it from her. He
was continually on the watch for its symptoms ; his
legs were to swell to the size of an elephant's, and his
skin was to be crumpled over like goose-skin. He
would draw the skin of his own hands, arms, and neck
very tight, and, if he discovered any deviation from
smoothness, he would seize the person next to him,
and endeavour by a corresponding pressure to see if
any corresponding deviation existed. He often startled
young ladies in an evening party by this singular
process, which was as instantaneous as a flash of
lightning. His friends took various methods of dis-
410
Parting from Harriet
pelling the delusion. When he found, as days rolled
on, his legs retained their proportion and his skin its
smoothness, the delusion died away."
Money matters again began to trouble Shelley while
at Edinburgh, and he wrote to an unidentified corre-
spondent on November 28, on whom he had been com-
pelled to draw for a sum of £30, that the consequence
of having the bill returned would necessitate, as he
says, " our being driven out of our lodgings." On
his return south, he went to stay alone, about the
middle of February, with his kind friend Mrs. Boinville.
From her house he wrote on March 13, 1814, to his
father about his affairs, which had become so critical
that he could no longer delay raising money by the
sale of post-obit bonds to a considerable amount.
He pointed out that the demands of moneylenders
necessitated vast sacrifices, and that he did not propose
to unsettle the estate by conceding them. He gave
his father the credit for the will, but realised his lack
of power to do all that he could reasonably expect.
Sir Bysshe, he thought, must surely see that his hopes
of perpetuating the integrity of the estates would be
frustrated by neglecting to relieve the necessities of
his grandson. Should he be driven to do so he would
have to dismember the property in the event of the
death of his grandfather and father.
Mr. Shelley had already been talking to Sir Bysshe
411
Shelley in England
about his son, and he had evidently made up his
mind to do something for him when he wrote on
March 7 to Whitton : "... My father talked to
me abt. P. B. He said he was told he cod. do nothing
from a certain person — I will tell you the reason when
I see you — I cod. have told him a ready mode (but I
forbore and bear in mind yr. hint), i.e. to pay the
debts, give an allowance, & in the first instance lay a
restraint, by Bonding, as they do at the Customs. My
father said he would sell Castle Goring ; that he does
not mean, and any offer of so doing wod. be nutts
for the unchristian and unfeeling-like spirit."
On March 15 Mr. Shelley again wrote to Whitton
with reference to Bysshe's communication of March
13: "I enclose you P. B.'s letter; the tenor of it
would not at all suit his grandfather's notions — and
on my own part I would rather he would first acknow-
ledge his God, then I might be led to believe his
assertions. My assurances of perfect reconciliation
flow'd from that source. I doubt, but there are con-
siderable difficulties for him to encounter in procuring
sufficient to answer the large demands. P. B. had
better leave it to Mr. Amory [Bysshe's solicitor] to
communicate these matters to you — I could wish Mr.
Amory would so advise him."
On March 4, shortly before Bysshe wrote the last-
quoted letter to his father, he had made the sale of
412
Parting from Harriet
a post obit. His object in raising this money was
primarily, if not entirely, to assist Godwin. The
indenture, however, was not made until July, and the
transaction was therefore not then complete at the
date of his letter to Mr. Shelley. The reversion of
£8000 sterling was offered for sale on the above date
at Garra way's Coffee House, Change Alley, " amply
secured," as it was stated, " upon valuable freehold
property, and made payable at the decease of the
survivor of two gentlemen, one [Sir Bysshe] between
80 and 90, and the other [Mr. Shelley] upwards of
60 years of age, in case they are both survived by a
gentleman [Bysshe] in his 22nd year." The pur-
chasers were Messrs. Andrew John Nash and George
Augustus Nash of Cornhill, who secured it for a sum
of £2593, los.
The following copy of a letter to Messrs. Nash's
solicitor, with regard to this transaction, is among the
Shelley- Whitton papers and has not been included in
the collected edition of Shelley's correspondence :
P. B. Shelley to Mr. Tecsdale
OLD BOND STREET,
May 6, 1814.
SIR, — I beg to inform you that to the best of my
knowledge, having made every enquiry on the subject,
there has been no portion of the Shelley Estate sold
under the Settlement of 1791 except that to Lord
413
Shelley in England
George Cavendish. As to any transaction of my own
I have raised no money on the reversion unless in one
instance the sum of £500, and I assure you on my
word of honour that I shall engage in no transaction
that can be any way prejudicial to the interest of Mr.
Nash, the purchaser.1 — Yours, &c.,
PERCY B. SHELLEY.
Early in the summer of this year Bysshe paid his
last visit to Field Place. His father and the three
youngest children were absent, and he came at his
mother's invitation. He walked alone from Bracknell
to Horsham, and when within a few miles of Field
Place a farmer gave him a seat in his travelling cart.
The man, being ignorant whom he was carrying,
amused Bysshe with descriptions of the country
and its inhabitants, and when Field Place came in
sight, he stated, as the most remarkable incident
connected with the family, that young Master Shelley
seldom went to church. When Bysshe arrived he
was greatly fatigued by his journey. From a descrip-
tion of the visit, written in later years by Captain
Kennedy, a young officer who had met with hospitality
at Field Place, one is able to reconstruct the scene.
Until his arrival Kennedy had not seen Bysshe, but
1 Shortly after the death of Sir Bysshe in 1815 Shelley filed a Bill in
Chancery against Messrs. Nash to have the Indenture dated I2th July
1814 rescinded, but the case went against the poet, judgment being
given in favour of the defendants on May 28, 1818.
414
Parting from Harriet
the servants, especially the old butler, Laker, had
spoken to him, and " he seemed to have won the hearts
of the whole household." Mrs. Shelley had often
spoken of her son to Kennedy ; " her heart yearned
after him with all the fondness of a mother's love."
Kennedy went to Field Place on the morning
following Bysshe's arrival, and " found him with his
mother and two elder sisters in a small room off the
drawing-room, which they had named Confusion Hall."
He received Kennedy with frankness and kindliness,
as if he had known him from childhood, and he at
once won the young soldier's heart. To continue
Kennedy's account in his own words : "I fancy I see
him now, as he sat by the window, and hear his voice,
the tones of which impressed me with his sincerity
and simplicity. His resemblance to his sister Elizabeth
was as striking as if they had been twins. His eyes
were most expressive, his complexion beautifully fair ;
his features exquisitely fine ; his hair was dark, and
no peculiar attention to its arrangement was manifest.
In person he was slender and gentlemanlike, but in-
clined to stoop ; his gait was decidedly not military.
The general appearance indicated great delicacy of
constitution. One would at once pronounce him, that
he was something different from other men. There
was an earnestness in his manner, and such perfect
gentleness of breeding and freedom from everything
415
Shelley in England
artificial, as charmed everyone. I never met a man
who so immediately won upon one. The generosity
of his disposition and utter unselfishness imposed
upon him the necessity of strict self-denial in personal
comforts. Consequently he was obliged to be most
economical in his dress. He one day asked us how
we liked his coat, the only one he had brought with
him. We said it was very nice, it looked as if new.
' Well/ said he, ' it is an old black coat which I have
had done up and smartened with metal buttons and a
velvet collar.' As it was undesirable that Bysshe's
presence in the country should be known, we arranged
that in walking out he should wear my scarlet uniform,
and that I should assume his outer garments. So he
donned the soldier's dress and sallied forth. His head
was so remarkably small that, though mine be not
large, the cap came down over his eyes, the peak resting
on his nose, and it had to be stuffed before it would fit
him. His hat just stuck on the crown of my head.
He certainly looked anything but a soldier.
" The metamorphosis was very amusing ; he en-
joyed it much, and made himself perfectly at home in
his unwonted garb. We gave him the name of Captain
Jones, under which name we used to talk of him after
his departure ; but, with all our care, Bysshe's visit
could not be kept a secret. I chanced to mention
the name of Sir James Mackintosh, of whom he
416
Parting from Harriet
expressed the highest admiration. He told me Sir
James was intimate with one [Godwin] to whom he
said he owed everything ; from whose book, Political
Justice, he had derived all that was valuable in know-
ledge and virtue. He discoursed with eloquence and
enthusiasm ; but his views seemed to me exquisitely
metaphysical, and by no means clear, precise, or
decided. He told me that he had already read the
Bible four times. [Kennedy said ' in Hebrew/ which,
as Hogg states, he never learnt ; he probably said ' in
Greek/ as he was much addicted to reading the
Septuagint.] He spoke of the Supreme Being as of
infinite mercy and benevolence. He disclosed no
fixed views of spiritual things ; all seemed wild and
fanciful. He said that he once thought the surround-
ing atmosphere was peopled with the spirits of the
departed. He reasoned and spoke as a perfect gentle-
man, and treated my arguments, boy as I was — I had
lately completely my sixteenth year — with as much
consideration and respect as if I had been his equal
in ability and attainments. Shelley was one of the
most sensitive of human beings ; he had a horror of
taking life, and looked upon it as a crime. He read
poetry with great emphasis and solemnity ; one
evening he read aloud to us a translation of one of
Goethe's poems, and at this day I think I hear him. In
music he seemed to delight, as a medium of association :
417 2 D
Shelley in England
the tunes which had been favourites in boyhood charmed
him. There was one, which he played several times on
the piano with one hand, that seemed to absorb him ;
it was an exceedingly simple air which, I understand, his
earliest love was wont to play for him. Poor fellow !
He soon left us, and I never saw him afterwards, but
I can never forget him. It was his last visit to Field
Place. He was an amiable and gentle being."
Mrs. Boinville was evidently aware of the crisis in
Shelley's life, and, in allusion to his visit, she wrote
from Bracknell to Hogg, on March n, 1814 : "I will
not have you despise homespun pleasures. Shelley is
making a trial of them with us, and likes them so well
that he is resolved to leave off rambling, and to begin
a course of them himself. Seriously, I think his mind
and body want rest. His journeys after what he has
never found have racked his purse and his tranquillity.
He is resolved to take a little care of the former in pity
to the latter, which I applaud, and shall second with
all my might. He has deeply interested us. In the
course of your intimacy he must have made you feel
what we now feel for him. He is seeking a house close
to us ; and if he succeeds, we shall have an additional
motive to induce you to come among us in the summer."
The following, one of the most pathetic letters that
Shelley ever penned, was written from Mrs. Boinville's
hospitable house :
418
Parting from Harriet
P. B. Shelley to T. J. Hogg
BRACKNELL,
March 16, 1814.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — I promised to write to you,
when I was in the humour. Our intercourse has been
too much interrupted for my consolation. My spirits
have not sufficed to induce the exertion of determining
me to write to you. My value, my affection for you,
have sustained no diminution ; but I am a feeble,
wavering, feverish being, who requires support and
consolation, which his energies are too exhausted to
return.
I have been staying with Mrs. B[oinville] for the last
month ; I have escaped, in the society of all that
philosophy and friendship combine, from the dismaying
solitude of myself. They have revived in my heart
the expiring flame of life. I have felt myself trans-
lated to a paradise which has nothing of mortality
but its transitoriness ; my heart sickens at the view
of that necessity, which will quickly divide me from
the , delightful tranquillity of this happy home — for
it has become my home. The trees, the bridge,
the minutest object, have already a place in my
affections.
My friend, you are happier than I. You have the
pleasures as well as the pains of sensibility. I have
sunk into a premature old age of exhaustion, which
renders me dead to everything but the inenviable
capacity of indulging the vanity of hope, and a terrible
susceptibility to objects of disgust and hatred.
My temporal concerns are slowly rectifying them-
selves ; I am astonished at my own indifference to
419
Shelley in England
their event. I live here like the insect that sports in
a transient sunbeam, which the next cloud shall obscure
for ever. I am much changed from what I was. I
look with regret to our happy evenings at Oxford,
and with wonder at the hopes which in the excess of
my madness I there encouraged. Burns says, you
know,
" Pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower — the bloom is fled ;
Or like the snow-falls in the river,
A moment white — then lost forever."
Eliza is still with us — not here ! — but will be with
me when the infinite malice of destiny forces me to
depart. I am now but little inclined to contest this
point. I certainly hate her with all my heart and
soul. It is a sight which awakens an inexpressible
sensation of disgust and horror, to see her caress my
poor little lanthe, in whom I may hereafter find the
consolation of sympathy. I sometimes feel faint with
the fatigue of checking the overflowings of my un-
bounded abhorrence for this miserable wretch. But
she is no more than a blind and loathsome worm that
cannot see to sting.
I have begun to learn Italian again. I am reading
Beccaria, " Dei delitti e pene." His essay seems to
contain some excellent remarks, though I do not think
it deserves the reputation it has gained. Cornelia
assists me in this language. Did I not once tell
you that I thought her cold and reserved ? She
is the reverse of this, as she is the reverse of
everything bad. She inherits all the divinity of her
mother.
What have you written ? I have been unable to
420
Parting from Harriet
write a common letter. I have forced myself to read
Beccaria and Dumont's Bentham. I have sometimes
forgotten that I am not an inmate of this delightful
home — that a time will come, which will cast me
again into the boundless ocean of abhorred society.
I have written nothing, but one stanza, which has
no meaning, and that I have only written in thought :
" Thy dewy locks sink on my breast ;
Thy gentle words stir poison there ;
Thou hast disturbed the only rest
That was the portion of despair !
Subdued to Duty's hard control,
I could have borne my wayward lot ;
The chains that bind this ruined soul
Had cankered then— but crushed it not."
This is the vision of a delirious and distempered
dream, which passes away at the cold clear light of
morning. Its surpassing excellence and exquisite
perfections have no more reality than the colour of an
autumnal sunset. Adieu ! — Believe me, truly and
affectionately yours, P. B. SHELLEY.1
Hogg thought that one might infer from the tone
and temper of this letter " that his family might have
had him then on reasonable, on easy terms, had they
known how to negotiate a treaty of peace. They
might probably have lured the wild hawk, the pere-
grine falcon, back to his perch without difficulty.
Possibly they did not know it ; certainly they did not
know how to set about it ; and the young wanderer
1 From Hogg's Life of Shelley.
421
Shelley in England
was reserved for other, and for higher and more
important destinies." Probably Mrs. Boinville, who
had herself made a Scotch marriage, counselled Shelley
to remarry in England, so as to avoid any question
of the validity of the ceremony in Edinburgh. Much
depended on the legitimacy of his heir, should he have
one, and he was well advised to take this step. On
March 22 he and Godwin went to Doctors' Commons
and obtained a License. The ceremony took place
at St. George's, Hanover Square, on March 24.
The "Allegations," filed at the Vicar-General's
office and made in support of the application for License
to marry, state that :
On the 22nd March 1814 appeared personally
Percy Bysshe Shelley and made Oath that he is
of the Parish of Saint George Hanover Square in
the County of Middlesex of the age of twenty-one1
years and upwards, and that on the twenty-ninth day
of August one thousand eight hundred and eleven,
he being then a bachelor and a minor of the age of
nineteen years and upwards was joined in holy matri-
mony by the Reverend — Robertson, a minister of the
Church of Scotland, at his dwelling-house in the City
of Edinburgh, according to the rites and ceremonies
of the Church of Scotland, to Harriet Shelley then
Westbrook spinster and also a minor of the age of
sixteen years and upwards, and he further made Oath
that the said Harriet Shelley is now of the Parish of
1 This is incorrect : his birthday was on Aug. 4th.
422
Parting from Harriet
Saint George Hanover Square aforesaid a minor of the
age of eighteen years and upwards, and that to obviate
all doubts which have arisen or may arise touching
the validity of the said marriage the appearer and the
said Harriet Shelley heretofore Westbrook are willing
and desirous of being married again in strict conformity
of law by and with the consent of John Westbrook,
the natural and lawful father of the said Harriet Shelley
heretofore Westbrook the minor aforesaid, and that
he knoweth of no lawful impediment by reason of any
precontract Consanguinity Affinity or other lawful
cause whatsoever to hinder the said intended marriage,
and prayed a license to solemnize the same in the
Parish Church of Saint George Hanover Square afore-
said, and further made Oath that the usual place of
abode of him the appearer hath been in the said
Parish of Saint George Hanover Square for the space
of Four weeks last past.
(Signed) PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
Sworn before me
(Signed) SAML J. MEYRICK SUXKTE.
Also appeared personally the said John Westbrook
of the Parish of Saint George Hanover Square aforesaid,
Gentleman, and made Oath that he is the natural and
lawful father of the said Harriet Shelley (heretofore
Westbrook, Spinster) the Minor aforesaid, and that he
is consenting to the above intended Marriage.
(Signed) JOHN WESTBROOK.
23 of March 1814 the said John Westbrook was
sworn before me
(Signed) S. PARTON SUR . . .
423
Shelley in England
SAINT GEORGE HANOVER SQUARE REGISTER
Book of Marriages Vol. II. Fo. 189.
Marriages in March 1814. No. 164.
Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet Shelley (formerly
Harriet Westbrook, Spinster, a Minor), both of this
Parish, were remarrie'd in this Church by License (the
Parties having been already married to each other
according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of
Scotland) in order to obviate all doubts that have arisen
or shall or may arise touching or concerning the validity
of the aforesaid Marriage by and with the consent of
John Westbrook, the natural and lawful Father of the
said Minor, this twenty-fourth day of March 1814.
by me EDWD- WILLIAMS, Curate.
( PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY,
This Marriage was HARRIET SlIELLEYj formerl
solemnised between us\ HARRIET WESTBROOK
In the presence of JOHN WESTBROOK,
JOHN STANLEY.
Until their return south after the second visit to
Edinburgh Bysshe and Harriet seem to have been
happy together. There is no doubt from her letters
to Miss Nugent that she was devoted to him ; and he
regarded her with sincere affection.
For his dedication to her in Queen Mob he had
written in 1813 :
" Whose is the love that, gleaming through the world,
Wards off the poisonous arrow of its scorn ?
Whose is the warm and partial praise,
Virtue's most sweet reward ?
424
Parting from Harriet
Beneath whose looks did my reviving soul
Ripen in truth and virtuous daring grow ?
Whose eyes have I gazed fondly on,
And loved mankind the more ?
Harriet ! on thine : — 'thou wert my purer mind ;
Thou wert the inspiration of my song ;
Thine are these early wilding flowers,
Though garlanded by me.
Then press unto thy breast this pledge of love ;
And know, though time may change and years may roll,
Each floweret gather'd in my heart
It consecrates to thine."
During their short married life of two years Bysshe
and Harriet had mainly depended on each other for
companionship. Now they were beginning to find
distractions, both after their own tastes. They both
possessed strong personal attractions for the opposite
sex, and clouds were gathering. Harriet was but
eighteen, though, since she had been a mother, she
had felt much older. " When I look back," she wrote,
" to the time before I was married, I seem to have
lived a long time." Shelley was still undeveloped,
but he had already begun to feel his wings. His
Letter to Lord Ellenborough was a proof that he pos-
sessed gifts for writing prose ; the quality of his
letters to his friends had improved ; and Queen Mab
was a not unworthy precursor of Alastor. He was in
the ascendant, and poor Harriet was powerless to
keep him much longer by her side.
425
Shelley in England
Both Shelley and Harriet were devoted to their
first child. Peacock tells us that Shelley " would
walk up and down a room with it in his arms for a
long time together, singing to it a monotonous melody
of his own making, which ran on the repetition of
a word of his own making, ' Yahmani, Yahmani,
Yahmani, Yahmani.' It did not please me, but, what
was more important, it pleased the child, and lulled
it when it was fretful. Shelley was extremely fond
of his children. He was pre-eminently an affectionate
father." Harriet's letters to Miss Nugent contain
several references to her little girl, which show that
she likewise was an affectionate mother. But she
refused to suckle the child, and, to quote Peacock
again, she provided it with a wet nurse whom Shelley
did not like, and lanthe was much looked after by
his wife's sister, whom Shelley intensely disliked.1
Eliza Westbrook, who had come to stay with the
Shelleys shortly after their marriage, and had since
stuck to them with the tenacity of a leech, must be
reckoned as an important factor in our consideration
of Shelley's separation from Harriet. Had this well-
meaning woman left their house some months earlier,
events still might have righted themselves. The
intense loathing with which Shelley regarded his
1 I quote in the following account from a summary that I wrote for
another publication, of the process of Shelley's separation from Harriet.
426
Parting from Harriet
sister-in-law finds expression in his letter to Hogg on
March 16, 1814. A month later Eliza Westbrook
departed from the Shelley household.
Harriet's coldness and want of sympathy towards
Shelley at this time may have been the result of his
undisguised dislike of her much-beloved sister. " His
violent antipathy," says Hogg, with regard to Shelley's
aversion to Eliza Westbrook, " was probably not less
unreasonable than his former excess of deference and
blind compliance and concession towards a person
whose counsels and direction could never have been
prudent, safe, or judicious." At this most critical
period Harriet foolishly allowed herself to be influ-
enced by her sister, under whose advice she probably
acted when, some months earlier, she prevailed upon
Shelley to provide her with a carriage, silver plate,
and expensive clothes. Shelley's affairs at this time
were already embarrassed, and the fact that Harriet
should care for such gew-gaws was to him altogether
repugnant, for he had formerly described " the ease
and simplicity of her habits " as constituting, in his
eyes, her greatest charm.
After the birth of her first child Harriet's manner
underwent a change. " Her studies," Hogg tells us,
"which had been so constant and exemplary, had
dwindled away to nothing, and Bysshe had ceased to
express any interest in them, and to urge her, as of
427
Shelley in England
old, to devote herself to the cultivation of her mind.
When I called upon her, she proposed a walk, if the
weather was fine, instead of the vigorous and con-
tinuous readings of preceding years. The walk com-
monly conducted us to some fashionable bonnet shop ;
the reading, it is not to be denied, was sometimes
tiresome ; the contemplation of bonnets was always so.
When I called upon Bysshe, Harriet was often absent ;
she had gone out with Eliza — gone to her father's.
Bysshe himself was sometimes in London, and some-
times at Bracknell, where he spent a good deal of
his time in visiting certain friends [Mrs. Boinville
and her daughter], with whom at this period he was
in close alliance, and upon terms of the greatest
intimacy, and by which connection his subsequent
conduct, I think, was much influenced." l
Shelley found Madame de Boinville " the most
admirable specimen of a human being " he had ever
seen, although in later years he had reason to believe
that " it was hardly possible for a person of the extreme
subtlety and delicacy of Mrs. Boinville's understanding
and affections to be quite sincere and constant."
Hogg distrusted her ; he did not appreciate the mis-
cellaneous company of faddists who were to be met
at her house ; but her society stimulated Shelley's
intellectual development, and caused him to view the
1 Life of Shelley, vol. ii. pp. 500-501.
428
Parting from Harriet
narrow outlook of Harriet and her sister with dis-
satisfaction.
Shelley's re-marriage, on March 24, cannot be
adduced as a proof of his affection for Harriet. His
state of mind at this time is reflected in those stanzas
which he probably wrote just before he concluded his
visit to Mrs. Boinville. They are dated April 1814,
when he contemplated, with a sinking heart, his
inevitable return to an existence of dreary monotony
with Harriet and her sister.
STANZAS—APRIL 1814
Away ! the moor is dark beneath the moon,
Rapid clouds have drunk the last pale beam of even :
Away ! the gathering winds will call the darkness soon,
And profoundest midnight shroud the serene lights of heaven.
Pause not ! The time is past ! Every voice cries, Away !
Tempt not with one last tear thy friend's ungentle mood :
Thy lover's eye, so glazed and cold, dares not entreat thy stay:
Duty and dereliction guide thee back to solitude.
Away, away ! to thy sad and silent home ;
Pour bitter tears on its desolated hearth ;
Watch the dim shades as like ghosts they go and come,
And complicate strange webs of melancholy mirth ;
The leaves of wasted autumn woods shall float around thine head,
The blooms of dewy spring shall gleam beneath thy feet :
But thy soul or this world must fade in the frost that binds the dead,
Ere midnight's frown and morning's smile, ere thou and peace
may meet.
The cloud shadows of midnight possess their own repose,
For the weary winds are silent, or the moon is in the deep ;
Some respite to its turbulence unresting ocean knows ;
Whatever moves or toils, or grieves, hath its appointed sleep.
429
Shelley in England
Thou in the grave shall rest — yet till the phantoms flee
Which that house and heath and garden made dear to thee ere-
while,
Thy remembrance, and repentance, and deep musings, are not free,
From the music of two voices and the light of one sweet smile.
According to Mrs. Boinville's letter to Hogg of
April 18, 18I4,1 Shelley was then at Bracknell. Harriet
had gone to town, presumably to her father's, and
Eliza Westbrook had taken her departure. Although
Harriet had now become cold and proud, Shelley still
hoped to regain her love, and in some verses inscribed
" To Harriet, 1814," 2 he makes a pathetic appeal to
her affection. Whether Harriet was moved by this
appeal or not, we do not know. She evidently never
intended to alienate herself from Shelley, but she was
staying at Bath, with her father, during the early days
of July, while Shelley had remained in London since
the end of May, excepting for a period of ten days,
from June 8th to the i8th. Shelley, however, still
continued to correspond with Harriet, as is shown
by the following letter which she addressed to
Thomas Hookham on July 6 or 7, 1814, from 6
Queen's Square, Bath.
MY DEAR SIR, — You will greatly oblige me by giving
the enclosed to Mr. Shelley. I would not trouble you,
but it is now four days since I have heard from him,
1 Life of Shelley, vol. ii. p. 553.
2 First printed in Professor Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. i. p. 413.
43°
Parting from Harriet
which to me is an age. Will you write by return of
post, and tell me what has become of him? If you
tell me that he is well, I shall not come to London ; but
if I do not hear from you or him, I shall certainly
come, as I cannot endure this dreadful state of sus-
pense. You are his friend, and you can feel for me. —
I remain, yours truly, H. S.
Although Shelley's own pecuniary affairs in 1814
were most unsatisfactory, his admiration for Godwin
was such that he engaged to help him out of his
embarrassments by assisting him to raise a sum of
money, said to be no less than three thousand pounds.
This was the first of these negotiations on behalf of
Godwin, which continued to be such a source of trouble
to Shelley almost till his last days. He had not been
to Godwin's house since March 22, when he went
with him to procure his marriage licence. But it was
now necessary for Shelley to be much in Godwin's
company, and after he returned to London on July 18
he joined the Skinner Street household each day at
dinner. It was during these days that Shelley first
came in contact with Mary Godwin, who had just
returned from Scotland on a visit to the Baxters.
On June 8, the date of Lord Cochrane's trial, Hogg
first saw Mary Godwin. He met Shelley in Cheapside,
and walked with him through Newgate Street to
Godwin's shop in Skinner Street. Shelley inquired
Shelley in England
for Godwin, who was not at home, and, while he was
waiting for the philosopher in his book-room, " the
door was partially and softly opened. A thrilling
voice called, ' Shelley ! ' A thrilling voice answered,
' Mary ! ' And he darted out of the room like an
arrow from the bow of the far-shooting king. A
very young female, fair and fair-headed, pale indeed,
with a piercing look, wearing a frock of tartan, an
unusual dress in London at the time, had called him
out of the room. He was absent a very short time —
a minute or two — and then returned. ' Godwin is
out ; there is no use in waiting.' So we continued
our walk along Holborn. ' Who was that, pray ? '
I asked ; ' a daughter ? ' ' Yes/ ' A daughter of
William Godwin ? ' ' The daughter of Godwin and
Mary.' "
The shop at Skinner Street was the recognised
place of pilgrimage for those who venerated the name
of Mary Wollstonecraft. Godwin had gone to live
there after her death, but there were still some relics
that lingered about the place to remind the visitor
of her memory. Godwin himself was there, and his
young daughter who bore her mother's name, Mary
Wollstonecraft, while Opie's fine painting of the
author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
looked down from its place over the chimney-piece in
the parlour.
432
Parting from Harriet
Mary was now a girl of sixteen, with a head and neck
afterwards compared to a bust of Clytie, and she was
devoted to her mother's memory, of whose life she had
heard at least something from her father's lips. The
girl was accustomed to visit her mother's grave in
St. Pancras Churchyard, and here, it is said, she and
Shelley plighted their troth in the summer of 1814.
Some lines which Shelley addressed to Mary, said l to
have been written in the June of this year, are a
confession of his passion :
TO MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN
Mine eyes were dim with tears unshed ;
Yes, I was firm — thus wert not thou ;
My baffled looks did fear yet dread
To meet thy looks — I could not know
How anxiously they sought to shine
With soothing pity upon mine.
To sit and curb the soul's mute rage
Which preys upon itself alone ;
To curse the life which is the cage
Of fettered grief that dares not groan,
Hiding from many a careless eye
The scorned load of agony.
Whilst thou alone, then not regarded
The [ ] thou alone should be
To spend years thus, and be rewarded,
As thou, sweet love, requited me
When none were near — Oh ! I did wake
From torture for that moment's sake.
1 By Dr. Richard Garnett.
433 2E
Shelley in England
Upon my heart thy accents sweet
Of peace and pity fell like dew
On flowers half dead ; — thy lips did meet
Mine tremblingly ; thy dark eyes threw
Their soft persuasion on my brain,
Charming away its dream of pain.
We are not happy, sweet ! our state
Is strange, and full of doubt and fear ;
More need of words that ills abate ;
Reserve or censure come not near
Our sacred friendship, lest there be
No solace left for thou and me.
Gentle and good and mild thou art,
Nor can I live if thou appear
Aught but thyself, or turn thine heart
Away from me, or stoop to wear
The mask of scorn, although it be
To hide the love thou feel'st for me.
One other written proof of their love-making is still
extant. It is in a copy of Queen Mob which Shelley
gave her, and wrote inside the cover in pencil, " Mary
Wollstonecraft Godwin, P.B.S.," and in another place,
" You see, Mary, I have not forgotten you." From
this book he had removed, as was his custom, the
title-page and the imprint at the end, but he retained
the dedication to Harriet, and wrote below it care-
fully in ink : " Count Slobendorf was about to marry
a woman who, attracted solely by his fortune, proved
his selfishness by deserting him in prison."
Mary wrote on the fly-leaves at the end of the
volume : " July 1814. This book is sacred to me,
434
Parting from Harriet
and as no other creature shall ever look into it, I may
•write in it what I please — yet what shall I write ? —
that I love the author beyond all the powers of ex-
pression, and that I am parted from him, dearest and
only love — by that love we have promised to each
other, although I may not be yours, I can never be
another's. But I am thine, exclusively thine.
" ' By the kiss of love, the glance none saw beside,
The smile none else might understand,
The whispered thought of hearts allied,
The pressure of the thrilling hand.' 1
" I have pledged myself to thee, and sacred is the
gift. I remember your words : ' You are now, Mary,
going to mix with many, and for a moment I shall
depart, but in the solitude of your chamber I shall
be with you.' Yes, you are ever with me, sacred
vision.
" ' But ah ! I feel in this was given
A blessing never meant for me,
Thou art too like a dream from heaven
For earthly love to merit thee.' " 2
Suggestions have been made that Harriet was un-
faithful to Shelley before their separation, and that
she was in love with a Major Ryan, who is mentioned
in her correspondence with Miss Nugent. Apparently
there is nothing to support this supposition ; on the
1 From Byron's " To Thyrza," the first line is altered.
2 From Byron's lines beginning " If sometimes in the haunts of men."
435
Shelley in England
contrary, the evidence is entirely in her favour.
Peacock, Hogg, and Hookham, all of whom knew her
intimately, believed her to be perfectly innocent of
any guilt, and Thornton, Hunt, and Trelawny shared
the same belief. On the other hand, Shelley is said to
have been convinced to the contrary in July 1814,
and to have held this opinion to the day of his death.
But if Shelley had not thought her guilty, the fact
that he was certain she no longer loved him was
sufficient in his sight to make it impossible for him
to live with Harriet as her husband.
The convictions on the subject of marriage that
he had expressed in Queen Mob in 1813 remained his
convictions in 1814. He felt he was free to give his
heart to Mary, with whom he was now deeply in love.
Harriet failed to realise that she had lost Shelley, and
she came to London, at his request, on July 14, when
he disclosed to her his position. Peacock says : " The
separation did not take place by mutual consent.
I cannot think that Shelley ever so represented it.
He never did so to me ; and the account which
Harriet herself gave me of the entire proceeding was
decidedly contradictory to any such supposition. He
might well have said, after seeing Mary Wollstonecraft
Godwin, ' Ut vidi ! ut peril ! ' Nothing that I ever
read in tale or history could ever present a more
striking image of a sudden, violent, irresistible, un-
436
Parting from Harriet
controllable passion than that under which I found
him labouring when, at his request, I went up from the
country to call on him in London. Between his old
feelings towards Harriet, from whom he was not then
separated, and his new passion for Mary, he showed in
his looks, in his gestures, in his speech, the state of
a mind suffering, ' like a little kingdom, the nature of
an insurrection.' His eyes were bloodshot, his hair
and dress disordered. He caught up a bottle of
laudanum, and said, ' I never part from this/ He
added, ' I am always repeating your lines from
" Sophocles" :
' " Man's happiest lot is not to be ;
And when we tread life's thorny steep,
Most blest are they, who earliest free
Descend to Earth's eternal sleep." '
Again, he said more calmly, ' Everyone who knows
me must know that the partner of my life should be
one who can feel poetry and understand philosophy.
Harriet is a noble animal, but she can do neither/
I said, ' It always appeared to me that you were very
fond of Harriet/ Without affirming or denying this
he answered, ' But you did not know how I hated
her sister ! ' "
437
CHAPTER XV
THE DEATH OF HARRIET
Shelley's elopement with Mary Godwin — His letter to Harriet —
Poverty in London — Birth of Charles Bysshe Shelley — Death of
Sir Bysshe Shelley — His will — Shelley's income — Life at Bishop-
gate — The maintenance of Shelley's children — Shelley acts on the
stage at Windsor — The case of Du Cane v. Shelley — Alastor —
Shelley's second visit to the Continent — Godwin's unfriendly
attitude — Shelley returns to England — Makes his will — The death
of Fanny Godwin — Death of Harriet Shelley — Inquest on her body
— Her grave.
HAVING reached that point when Shelley parted from
Harriet, I shall in the following chapters tell as much
of his life as is necessary to illustrate the unpublished
material in the Shelley-Whitton papers.
Mary Godwin, accompanied by Clare Clairmont,1 left
her father's shop in Skinner Street at five o'clock
on the morning of July 28, 1814, walked to the
corner of Hatton Garden, and found Shelley in wait-
ing with a post-chaise. At the moment of parting,
Clare was persuaded to enter the carriage with Mary,
as she could speak French, which was an attainment
that neither Shelley nor Mary possessed. It was a
1 Clara Jane Mary Clairmont, who was known in her family as Jane,
adopted the name of Clare, Clara, or Claire towards the end of the
year 1814.
438
The Death of Harriet
blazingly hot day, hotter than had been known for
many years in England, and Mary was overcome with
faintness, so that it was found necessary for her to
rest at each stage. But these delays gave Shelley
some anxious moments, and at Dartford he took four
horses in order to outstrip pursuit. Dover was reached
before four o'clock in the afternoon, and Mary re-
freshed herself with a sea -bath. The fugitives, who
were too impatient to wait until the following day
for the packet, hired a small boat and resolved to
cross the Channel the same evening, the seamen
promising them a passage of two hours. The evening
was beautifully fine, but as night came on and the
moon rose a heavy swell and a fresh breeze produced
a rough sea. The journey was prolonged by the bad
weather ; Mary was very ill, and she rested against
Shelley's knees as hour after hour went by. Suddenly
a thunder squall struck the sail, the boat was in peril
and almost overturned, but the wind then changed
and they made straight for Calais. Mary at length
fell asleep, and still slumbered while Shelley watched
the sun rise over France.
Mrs. Godwin had started in pursuit of the girls as
soon as they were missed ; she crossed, on the follow-
ing day, in the packet for which Shelley had refused
to wait, and managed to catch them up at Calais.
Shelley was informed " that a fat lady had arrived,
439
Shelley in England
who said that he had run away with her daughter."
The lady was, of course, Mrs. Godwin. Clare spent
the night with her mother, who endeavoured to induce
her to return home. On the following day Clare was
undecided what to do, until Shelley counselled her to
take time to consider, whereupon she chose to bear
Mary company. So Mrs. Godwin went back alone,
and " without answering a word."
The two girls, dressed in black satin, now proceeded
with Shelley towards Paris, where they remained for
a week. Shelley, with characteristic want of fore-
sight, had neglected to provide himself with sufficient
money, and he was forced to sell his watch and chain
for eight napoleons. But he managed to obtain
further funds from a French man of business, and
they were then able to continue their journey towards
Switzerland. They purchased a donkey with the in-
tention of riding him by turns, but the poor beast
was scarcely able to carry their portmanteau, much
less one of the party. So they sold him and purchased
a mule, which for some time carried Mary and the
luggage. This arrangement continued, Shelley and
Clare walking beside the animal, until the poet hurt
his ankle on August 12, and was obliged to ride while
the girls followed him on foot. The same evening
they reached Troyes, and on the day after Shelley
wrote to Harriet.
44°
The Death of Harriet
P. B. Shelley to Harriet Shelley
TROVES (120 miles from Paris on
the way to Switzerland) ,
Aug. 13, 1814.
MY DEAREST HARRIET, — I write to you from this
detestable town : I write to show that I do not forget
you : I write to urge you to come to Switzerland,
where you will at least find one firm and constant
friend, to whom your interests will be always dear —
by whom your feelings will never wilfully be injured.
From none can you expect this but me — all else are
unfeeling or selfish, or have beloved friends of their
own as Mrs. B[oinville], to whom their attention and
affection is confined.
I will write at length from Neufchatel or you direct
your letters " d'etre laisse a la Bureau de Poste Neuf-
chatel " — until you hear again.
We have journeyed from Paris on foot with a mule
to carry our baggage ; and Mary, who has not been
sufficiently well to walk, fears the fatigue of walking.
We passed through a fertile country, neither inter-
esting from the character of its inhabitants nor the
beauty of the scenery. We came 120 miles in four
days ; the last two days we passed over the country
that was the seat of war. I cannot describe to you
the frightful desolation of this scene ; village after
village entirely ruined and burned, the white ruins
towering in innumerable forms of destruction among
the beautiful trees. The inhabitants were famished ;
families once independent now beg their bread in this
wretched country ; no provisions ; no accommoda-
tion ; filth, misery, and famine everywhere. (You
will see nothing of this on your route to Geneva.)
441
Shelley in England
I must remark to you that, dreadful as the calamities
are, I can scarcely pity the inhabitants ; they are the
most unamiable, inhospitable, and unaccommodating
of the human race. We go by some carriage from this
town to Neufchatel, because I have strained my leg
and am unable to walk. I hope to be recovered by
that time ; but on our last day's journey I was per-
fectly unable to walk. Mary resigned the mule to
me. Our walk has been, excepting this, sufficiently
agreeable ; we have met none of the robbers they
prophesied at Paris. You shall hear our adventures
more detailed if I do not hear at Neufchatel that I
am soon to have the pleasure of communicating to
you in person, and of welcoming you to some sweet
retreat I will procure for you among the mountains.
I have written to Peacock to superintend money
affairs : he is expensive, inconsiderate, and cold, but
surely not utterly perfidious and unfriendly and un-
mindful of our kindness to him : besides, interest
will secure his attention to these things. I wish you
to bring with you the two deeds which Tahourdin has
to prepare for you, as also a copy of the settlement.
Do not part with any of your money. But what shall
be done about the books ? You can consult on the
spot. With love to my sweet little lanthe, ever most
affectionately yours, g
I write in great haste : we depart directly.1
This letter reveals the side of Shelley's character
that enabled him to arrive at 'a decision without re-
gard to conventions. His suggestion that Harriet
1 From Dowden's Life of Shelley.
442
The Death of Harriet
should join him on his holiday with Mary and Clare
would have been not only extraordinary but base,
were it not clear that he was thoroughly sincere.
Notwithstanding his conviction that Harriet had de-
serted him, and that he could no longer be a husband
to her, he believed he could still stand by her as her
best friend, and one who was bound to continue to
take an interest in her welfare.
At the date of Shelley's visit to the Continent,
France had all but seen the last of Napoleon, who had
abdicated some two months earlier and withdrawn
himself to exile at Elba, while Bourbon Louis XVIII
reigned over a people exhausted by a twenty years' war.
Shelley passed over ground that still bore the scars of
battle and plunder, where, but a few months before,
Napoleon's wearied legions had been in deadly conflict
with the Prussians. It is unlikely that these scenes
of desolation were ever effaced from Shelley's mind.
At Troyes the mule was sold, an open carriage pur-
chased for five napoleons, and a driver, who proved
incompetent, was engaged. A week later they had
reached Neufchatel. Here Shelley obtained a small
sum of money, and with it he pressed on to the Lake
of Lucerne, where he engaged two rooms in a chateau
at Brunnen at a louis a month for six months. He
was probably unable to take them for a shorter period,
but they were only occupied for forty-eight hours,
443
Shelley in England
when the travellers decided to turn their faces towards
England. It was Shelley's hope that, by taking ad-
vantage of the Reuss and Rhine, he would be able to
perform the journey entirely by water. Travelling
through Germany and Holland, they made a brave
attempt to carry out his plan, but they sometimes
found it necessary to take a land conveyance. Arriving
at length at Rotterdam, they sailed on September 8 for
London, which they reached on September 13.
From the day that Mary joined her lot with Shelley
they kept a joint diary. From this journal, with the
addition of some letters written home to Peacock,
Mary compiled a little account of this journey and
their later visit to the Continent, which was subse-
quently published in 1817, with the title History of a
Six Weeks Tour through a Part of France, Switzerland,
Germany, and Holland. Shelley on his arrival in
London was penniless, and not having the where-
withal even to pay for his passage and meet other
smaller charges, he drove at once to his bank, to find
that all his funds had been drawn. Miss Clairmont
stated that while abroad Shelley had instructed his
banker to honour Harriet's calls for money as far as
his funds allowed. Shelley applied to Harriet, who
gave him a sum of twenty pounds, and who added
" the reproaches of an injured wife." *
1 Professor Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. i. pp. 463-4.
444
The Death of Harriet
Shortly after Shelley and Mary arrived in London
they engaged lodgings at 56 Margaret Street, Cavendish
Square, and for the present Clare remained with them.
Shelley took an early opportunity of writing to William
Godwin, who replied that in future he would only
receive communications through his solicitor. Gos-
sipers had been busy, and it was whispered that
Godwin had sold his own girl Mary, and his wife's
daughter Clare Clairmont, to Shelley for £800 and
£700 respectively. That this was merely a rumour,
and that Shelley, who, in eloping with Mary, had done
no more than put Godwin's early anti-matrimonial
teaching into practice, did not make the slander easier
to bear. Godwin's philosophical calm for once was
shaken, and, vital as Shelley's aid was to his existence,
he was resolved to accept it, but with a gloved hand.
Shelley did not display any resentment or bad feeling
towards Godwin for his aloofness. He still regarded
the author of Political Justice, and the father of his
Mary, as the fountain-head of wisdom and truth,
and he did not relax in his endeavours to serve
him.
Shelley's diary during these days shows that he
was again reading, with many other books, Political
Justice, and that visits were frequently paid to Harriet,
and received from Hogg, Hookham, and almost daily
from Peacock. Shelley spent much of his time in
445
Shelley in England
endeavouring to raise money for his own needs as well
as for those of Godwin. But he found that money was
very scarce, and he could not obtain any. As October
dragged on, Shelley was again in danger of arrest
at the instance of his creditors, and he had to leave
his lodgings and go into hiding for fear of the bailiffs.
Mary could only meet him furtively at odd places,
such as Staple Inn or Bartlett's Buildings, a quiet
cul de sac at the end of Skinner Street, off Snow Hill,
or at St. Paul's Cathedral. They had been obliged to
change their rooms more than once. One day, when
they were living in the squalor of a St. Pancras lodging-
house, the people demanded their money, and, on being
disappointed, refused to send up the dinner to the
hungry young people. Events now shaped them-
selves so as to contribute thoroughly to Shelley's and
Mary's misery. They had to endure dire poverty and
dismal accounts of affairs at Skinner Street. Godwin,
moreover, was irreconcilable, Mrs. Godwin slanderous,
and Clare often moody, sullen, and in the way. Har-
riet, so Shelley believed, was plotting with Hookham,
from whom he had hopes of help in the way of bail
from his creditors. These trials served, if anything,
to draw Shelley and Mary together, and, as they could
not always meet, they wrote to one another love-
letters full of faith for the future. Mary, lonely, paid
frequent visits to the tomb of her mother, Mary
446
The Death of Harriet
Wollstonecraft, at St. Pancras Churchyard, and one
day she went there to read her father's Essay on
Sepulchres. On Sundays Shelley, safe from his pur-
suers, was able to return home, to his and Mary's de-
light. November 6 was one of these happy occasions,
and Mary wrote in the diary : " Talk to Shelley. He
writes a heap of letters. Read part of St. Leon. Talk
to him all the evening ; this is a day devoted to Love
in idleness. Go to sleep early in the evening. Shelley
goes away a little before 10."
On December 6 Shelley heard that Harriet had
given birth to a son. This intelligence was conveyed
to him in a letter from Hookham, and also in one
from Harriet herself, telling him that the child had
been born a week. Mary noted in the diary on this
date, with a touch of resentment : " Shelley writes a
number of circular letters of this event, which ought
to be ushered in with ringing of bells, &c., for it is the
son of his wife " ; and she speaks of Harriet's letter,
which was written as " from a deserted wife." On the
following day Shelley called on Harriet, " who," said
Mary, " treats him with insulting selfishness."
Harriet told her Irish correspondent, Miss Nugent,
on December n that she had " been confined a fort-
night on Wednesday — that is to say, on November 30.
He is an eight months' child, and very like his un-
fortunate father, who is more depraved than ever. . . .
447
Shelley in England
He is a very fine child for the time. I have seen his
father : he came to see me as soon as he knew of the
event : but as to his tenderness to me none remains.
He said he was glad it was a boy, because he would
make money cheaper. You see how that noble soul
is debased. Money now, not philosophy, is the grand
spring of his actions. Indeed, the pure and enlightened
philosophy he once delighted in has flown. He is no
longer that pure and good being he once was, nor can
he ever retrieve himself."
Shelley was, in legal phraseology, tenant in tail
male in remainder expectant on the deaths of his
grandfather and father. He had in 1814, on the occa-
sion of the transaction with the Messrs. Nash, levied a
fine without the concurrence of his grandfather or
father. Such fine created what is termed a base fee,
i.e. an estate which would continue so long as he had
issue male. Shelley certainly was anxious to procure
money, and much of his time, since his return from the
Continent, had been occupied with lawyers and money-
lenders ; he wanted money for Godwin, and to relieve
his own necessities, which were so pressing that he
had been living for many weeks in daily expectation
of arrest for debt. He had applied through his soli-
citor to Mr. Shelley for an increase in his allowance,
and Mr. Whitton replied, on December 10, that " Mr.
P. B. Shelley is well aware that his father has not the
448
The Death of Harriet
means ... of making to him a greater allowance
than he now does." Shelley was in want of a sum of
£2000, of which he intended to devote £1200 to Godwin,
and the rest he required for his own debts. Whitton
discussed the question of effecting a re-settlement of
the estates with Mr. Tim Shelley, or of obtaining for
him in fee the estate under the will of John Shelley,
the brother of Sir Bysshe. Neither of these sugges-
tions could be put into practice without the concur-
rence of Sir Bysshe, to whom it was inadvisable to
write, as he was now very old, ailing, and indeed
nearing his end. Mr. Shelley, whose object was to
put a check on his son's transactions, learnt some days
later that Bysshe had arranged for the sale of a post
obit of £10,000 for a sum of £3000.
Sir Bysshe died on January 5, 1815, and on the
following day Whitton wrote to inform Amory, Shelley's
then solicitor, of this event, and begged him to prevent
" the young gentleman going to his father's at present
. . . his presence will, as I understand, be most
painful to Mrs. S." Shelley went off to Sussex on
learning of his grandfather's death. He was accom-
panied by Clare Clairmont ; perhaps Mary would
have taken her place had she been well enough. On
presenting himself at Field Place Bysshe was refused
admittance by his father — now Sir Timothy Shelley.
Whereupon the poet seated himself on the doorstep
449 2 F
Shelley in England
and read Comus out of Mary's copy of Milton. Pre-
sently Dr. Blocksome came out of the house and told
Bysshe that his father was very angry with him.
He looked at the book in Bysshe's hands, and ob-
served Mary's name in it. Bysshe learnt, perhaps
from the doctor, that the will had been opened, and
that he was referred to Whitton.
Sir Bysshe was buried on Tuesday, January 18, in
the family vault at Horsham, and, as the notice
contributed by Whitton1 to a Sussex newspaper
says : " The corpse was followed by the present Sir
Timothy Shelley, Bart., who hath succeeded to the
family estates of the Shelley s and Mitchells [sic], and
by John Shelley Sidney of Penshurst Place, Kent,
Esqre., the deceased ['s] eldest son by his Second
Marriage, and by Major Shelley, the third Son, and a
numerous and respectable Tenant ry." His grandson
Bysshe does not appear to have attended the funeral,
as he returned to London on January 13 ; 2 there
is, however, no entry printed from Mary's diary be-
tween that date and January 24. Bysshe had some
years previously told Miss Kitchener that he had no
1 Who sent it to the editor with a two-pound note.
2 Whitton wrote in his business diary on Jan. 13, 1815, the date of
Shelley's return to London : "Attended Mr. P. B. Shelley on the death
of his Grandfather and the result of his visit to Field Place, and I
communicated generally the import of the Will and Codicils and promised
that as soon as possible after the interment of Sir Bysshe he should
receive all the information in my power to give him."
450
The Death of Harriet
intention of attending his grandfather's funeral when
he should die.1
Sir Bysshe's residuary personal estate was sworn
under £175,000. His daughter, Mrs. Aickin, who by
her marriage with Captain Aickin is said to have dis-
pleased Sir Bysshe, only received an annuity of £52,
los. and a legacy of £100. Mr. John Shelley-Sidney,
however, sympathising with his half-sister in her
disappointment, arranged to pay her a yearly sum
of £100.
Sir Bysshe by his Will dated 28 Nov. 1805 (after
reciting the Settlement of 20 August 1791) devised
his real Estates to Trustees (Du Cane and Wm. Whit-
ton) Upon trust to settle the same to the use of Timothy
for life without power to commit waste with remainder
To the use of Percy Bysshe Shelley for life with re-
mainder To the use of the first and every other son
of Percy Bysshe Shelley in tail male And in default
of such male issue To the use of the second son of
Timothy (who was John) for life with remainder To
the use of the first and every son of John in tail male.
And he also bequeathed one half of his Residuary
personal Estate to his trustees upon trust to convert the
same into money and to invest the proceeds in the pur-
chase of Freehold or copyhold land in England and to
settle the same To the uses declared by his Will of his
1 See p. 15.
451
Shelley in England
real Estates thereby devised — He directed that in the
Settlement to be made as aforesaid there should be
contained clauses for barring the Entail on the Estates
comprised in the Settlement of 20 August 1791, and
for resettling the same Estates To the uses declared
by his own Will and that in case any person being
Tenant for life or in tail in such Estates should refuse
or neglect for one year to concur in barring the Entail,
then the uses directed to be limited in the Estates
devised by his Will to such person, should cease and
become void and that such Estates should go to the
next person in succession under the Will — He also
directed that in the Settlement to be made there should
be contained provisoes for the person in possession
to take the name and bear the Arms of Shelley and in
default to forfeit his interest And he declared that his
Trustees were not to lay out the residue of his Estate
in the purchase of lands unless Consols were at 70—
He directed his remains to be decently buried either
at Penshurst or Horsham, that was to say, at such of
those places as he should be nearest unto at the time
of his death.
By a fifth Codicil to his Will dated 29 October
iSn,1 Sir Bysshe, after reciting the Settlement of
30 April 1782, in effect directed that all persons who
1 1811, the year of Shelley's expulsion from Oxford, his marriage to
Harriet, and his quarrel with his father.
452
The Death of Harriet
should become entitled to an Estate for life or in tail
in the Estates comprised in the Settlement of 1782
should resettle such Estates or in default should for-
feit all benefit under his Will.
Similar conditions had been imposed by previous
wills of the Shelleys, so that Sir Bysshe was following
a precedent in his family.
The Settlement of 1782 comprised the Michell
Estates in Sussex which formerly belonged to Mary
Catherine Michell (the first wife of Sir Bysshe), whilst the
Settlement of 1791 comprised the Estates devised by the
Will of Edward Shelley of Field Place, who died 1747-8,
and resettled by Sir Bysshe and Timothy in 1791.
But at the dates of the Will and Codicils of Sir Bysshe
there were other Estates in Sussex of the annual value
of £800 to which under the Will of John Shelley of
Field Place, who died in 1790, his brother Sir Bysshe
was entitled for life, with remainder to the latter's
son Timothy for life, with remainder to Percy Bysshe
in tail male. Apparently by some oversight Sir Bysshe
did not by his Will or any Codicil make any provision
for the resettling of this property.
On January 20 Shelley received a copy of Sir Bysshe's
will and codicils from Whitton, who stated that Sir
Timothy was " ready to concur in all necessary acts
for re-settling the estates comprised in the Settlements
of 1782 and 1791 according to the directions " in his
453
Shelley in England
grandfather's will and codicils. Sir Timothy was
anxious that Bysshe should be given time to consider
whether he would take an interest under his grand-
father's will by performing the necessary acts.
Bysshe, however, refused to comply with the con-
ditions of his grandfather's will, and by a Deed-Poll
formally renounced all interest under such will, and
he agreed to sell to his father his reversionary interest
under the will of John Shelley in consideration of his
father paying him the sum of £7400 and covenanting to
pay him an annuity of £1000 during their joint lives.1
When this arrangement was complete, Shelley at
once sent Harriet a sum of £200 wherewith to liquidate
her debts, and gave instructions for his father's banker
to pay her in quarterly instalments a sum of £200 a
year. This amount, with a like sum which Mr. West-
brook allowed his daughter, provided Harriet with
an income of £400 per annum.
Shelley was now in a position of comfort, and after
the experience of many months in London lodgings
he was able to leave town for Devonshire. In June
he was at Torquay, and a month later, while he was
looking for a suitable house, Mary was staying at
Clifton. Mary had given birth in February to a seven-
months' girl, who survived only a few days. The
1 These transactions were carried out by three deeds, short abstracts
of which will be found in the Appendix.
454
The Death of Harriet
loss of her baby and her impaired health had given
Shelley some anxious weeks. This quiet sojourn,
however, restored her, and by August she was settled
with Shelley in a furnished house at Bishopgate, near
the eastern entrance of Windsor Park, where they
remained till the spring of 1816, and where, on January
24 of that year, their son William was born.
Peacock, who was living at Great Marlow, frequently
walked over to Bishopgate to see Shelley, and at the
end of August he, Shelley, Mary, and Charles Clair-
mont made a ten days' excursion on the Thames from
Windsor to Lechlade in Gloucestershire. They went
a little higher, but did not get much beyond Ingles-
ham on account of the water-weeds. Shelley wanted
to go on, and to traverse various rivers and canals
until they reached the Falls of the Clyde, a distance
of two thousand miles ; but the idea was given up
when it was ascertained that a sum of £20 would be
required for the privilege of passing the Severn Canal.
Clairmont, who wrote an account of the excursion in
a letter to his sister Clare, tells us that they stayed at
Oxford from seven in the evening till four o'clock the
next afternoon. After seeing the Bodleian Library
and the Clarendon Press, they visited, he said, " the
very rooms where the two noted infidels, Shelley and
Hogg (now, happily, excluded the society of the
present residents), pored, with the incessant and un-
455
Shelley in England
wearied application of the alchymist, over the certified
and natural boundaries of human knowledge." Clair-
mont added : " We have all felt the good effects of
this jaunt, but in Shelley the change is quite remark-
able ; he has now the ruddy, healthy complexion of
the autumn upon his countenance, and he is twice
as fat as he used to be."
The journal kept by Shelley and Mary has been lost
from May 14, 1815, for a year onwards. It would no
doubt have told us, what we now learn from the
following letter, that Harriet had applied to Shelley
for an allowance for the keep of the two children in
addition to the sum which he had arranged to pay for
her support. He refused to comply with this request,
which probably aroused his misgivings that, as Harriet
had found her income insufficient, the children may
have gone on short commons. He therefore told her
that he was willing — nay, desirous — of having lanthe
with him, and that he would support and care for
her. Harriet would not consent to part with her
little girl, excusing herself on the ground of Shelley's
religious principles, nor would she agree to be a party
in a deed of separation. Shelley then declared that,
unless she delivered up the child, he should withdraw
his promised allowance for her maintenance. At this
stage the Westbrooks meditated taking proceedings
against Shelley in the courts for alimony on Harriet's
456
The Death of Harriet
account, and for a separate allowance for the chil-
dren's support. Shelley's suggestion that his father
should help to support the children apparently met
with a refusal.
W. Whitton to Sir Timothy Shelley
GRAY'S INN,
30 Novr. 1815.
DEAR SIR TIMOTHY, — I yesterday had a visit from
Mr. Desse and Mr. Westbrook, who stated much of
their treaty for a Settlement by Mr. P. B. Shelley for
the maintenance of his children in addition to that
made for his wife without effect, and that Mr. Shelley
requested that his daughter should be delivered to
him which the mother had refused to do, that they
meditated proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Court for
Alimony for the wife and in the Court of Chancery
for maintenance for the children, in which proceedings
the religious principles of Mr. Shelley would be stated
as the ground or reason for refusing to give him the
care of the children, and under such circumstances
the visit to me was to enquire whether to prevent a
publick statement of the situation of Mr. Shelley you
would take on yourself the support, that is, to allow
for the support of one of the children if Mr. Westbrook
provided for the other, and if Mrs. Shelley should be
content with the £200 a year. I told them that I
would mention the subject to you, but I felt confident
you would not interfere with Mr. Shelley farther than
you had done in respect to any allowance. Indeed, I
know that the plan proposed by them would not be
satisfactory, because I have been informed by Mr.
457
Shelley in England
Longdill that as Mrs. Shelley's friends advise her not
to enter into any deed of separation and not to give
him the care of his daughter, it is his intention to with-
draw the allowance of £200 a year which we had
agreed to make for Mrs. Shelley, so that confusion will
soon follow in their affairs and I fear that if you allow
yourself to be mingled in the strife and to take the
conduct that is suggested you will undergo continual
anxiety and pain. It is not the money but the Com-
pany in which you may be placed, and more, much
more, may be expected from you should you do as
is requested than would be pleasant to your feelings,
and Mr. P. B. Shelley would consider you looking to
his persecutors rather than to him, a situation that
it is most desirable for you to avoid lest a great change
should take place in his conduct and principles and
he should be in a situation to receive your protection.
You know what reply I am to give.
It was mentioned to me yesterday that Mr. P. B.
Shelley was exhibiting himself on the Windsor Stage
in the Character of Shakespeare's plays under the
figured name of Cooks. I believe that fact is so, and
I know of no way correcting such a purpose and bring-
ing himself and his conduct in life and principles
before the publick than measures of communication
with the principal of the Company, whose name, I
believe, is Penley, and whom I know a little of from
his visiting Camberwell parish annually with his com-
pany. Can I do anything for you about this ? — I
am, &c., WILLIAM WHITTON.
SIR T. SHELLEY, Ex.,
Field Place,
Horsham, Sussex.
458
The Death of Harriet
If Whitton is correct in his statement that Shelley
had acted in Shakespeare's plays at the Windsor
Theatre, it is strange that both Peacock and Hogg,
who were much in his company at this time, have
forborne to mention it. Had they heard of such an
interesting episode in their friend's life, it is unlikely
that they would have forgotten to describe him as
an actor. Whitton, on the other hand, was not the
sort of man to retail idle gossip, and it is possible that
Shelley may have kept the matter to himself. Whit-
ton, who at that date and for some years previously
had resided at Camberwell on a small estate which
he had purchased in 1812 from the well-known Dr.
Lettsom, speaks with some knowledge of Penley, and
he was no doubt sure of his facts.1
In his diary, under the date of December i, Whitton
stated that he had had some conversation with Shelley's
solicitor, Mr. Longdill, in regard to his client's appear-
ance on the stage, as well as on the communication
made to him by Mr. Westbrook and his solicitor, Mr.
Desse. Whitton used his best endeavours to avert
the meditated proceedings in the courts, and he sug-
gested that the children should be placed in the care
1 Blanche in his book Ye Parish of Camberwell, 1877, says: "The
Peckham Theatre was at one time an institution in the Village, for the
spirited Proprietor, Mr. Penley of Drury Lane notoriety, generally
presented an attractive bill of fare, and residents of to-day speak in terms
of high praise of the performers."
459
Shelley in England
of some person approved of by Desse and Longdill,
and that Shelley should make a proper allowance for
their support. " This subject," he said, " caused a
general consideration of Mr. Shelley's situation, in
particular his connection with the Theatre at Windsor,
and Mr. Longdill urged that he might have communi-
cation with Sir Timothy." Mr. Whitton continued
his efforts to assist at an amicable settlement between
Shelley and Harriet, and on February 15, 1816, he
informed Sir Timothy that he had been negotiating
to prevent hostilities between Mr. Desse and Mr.
Longdill.
In 1815-16 the Trustees of the Will of Sir Bysshe
(Peter Du Cane and William Whitton) filed a Bill in
Chancery to have the Will and Codicils established
and the trusts thereof carried into execution, and for
an injunction to restrain Sir Timothy from cutting
timber on the Estates comprised in the Settlements
of 1782 and 1791, which timber was stated to be of
the value of some thousands of pounds. (Shelley in
his letter to Godwin, dated May 3, 1816, said the
timber was worth £60,000.) The defendants were Sir
Timothy Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Charles Bysshe
Shelley (the infant son of Percy Bysshe), and others.
It would appear that in those days it was necessary
for an infant to attend personally in court for the pur-
pose of having a guardian assigned to him to defend
460
The Death of Harriet
the suit and file an answer. There seems to have been
considerable difficulty in getting Bysshe's infant child
(then only sixteen months old) brought to the court,
for on March 2, 1816, Whitton wrote to Desse : "I
have not stated to you I have obtained the attachment
and the Order for the Messenger to take the infant
into Court, and you will feel that it is my duty to en-
force this Order unless Mrs. Shelley will make it un-
necessary by bringing the child into Court without
further trouble." Possibly Harriet was apprehensive
that Shelley might kidnap the child.
The Order for attachment was as follows :
March 2, 1816. — Upon Motion this day made unto
this Court by Mr. Blackburn of Counsel for the Plain-
tiffs It was alleged that an Attachment hath issued
against the defendant Charles Bysshe Shelley who is
an infant for want of his Answer to the Plaintiffs'
Bill. It is ordered that the Messenger attending this
Court do apprehend the said defendant the infant and
bring him to the Bar of this Court to have a guardian
assigned him by whom he may answer the Plaintiffs'
Bill and defend this suit.
From a letter written by Whitton on March I2th to
Teasdale (Nash's solicitor) it appears that the suit in
question was not a hostile one. The real object of it
appears to have been to get a decision as to whether
Timothy could cut timber on the estates comprised
in the settlements of 1782 and 1791, and whether
461
Shelley in England
Timothy could concur with his son in making any
disposition of such estates without incurring a for-
feiture of the life estate given to him (Timothy) by
Sir Bysshe's will.
The case was argued before Lord Eldon, the Lord
Chancellor, and Whitton wrote, on April 23, 1816,
to inform Sir Timothy that the Lord Chancellor had
given his judgment, which was nearly in the terms
which was anticipated would be the result — that the
Chancellor was most clearly of opinion that neither
Bysshe nor his issue could take any interest under the
will of Sir Bysshe, and that they were not entitled
to prevent Sir Timothy from cutting the timber, or in
any manner interested in the timber when cut. But
as Sir Timothy's other son, John, might ultimately
become tenant in tail in remainder on Sir Timothy's
life, the money derived from the wood was to be
invested. Sir Timothy, however, was to receive the
interest. The Chancellor also held that Sir Timothy
must retain his life estate, and do no act to prevent a
re-settlement according to the will. ' ' Thus all arrange-
ment with Mr. P. B. Shelley," said Whitton, "is made
impracticable, and he is as I understand greatly dis-
appointed at that part of the decision, for he has some
very pressing occasions for money. He was in Court."
Shelley's mental development advanced under the
genial sympathy of Mary's influence ; she said that
462
The Death of Harriet
" he enjoyed several months of comparative health
and tranquil happiness." His comparative freedom
from money worries had enabled him to give his atten-
tion once more to poetry, and, inspired by the scenery
of Windsor Forest, he had written, probably by the
end of 1815, his poem Alastor and the other pieces
contained in the volume published under that title.
Of this volume he printed at his own expense 250
copies, and he sent a copy to John Murray on January
16, 1816, asking him if he would publish . it. On
Murray's declining the book, Shelley made arrange-
ments for it to be issued jointly by Baldwin & Co.
and Carpenter & Son, and announced to the last-
named firm, in his letter of February 6th, that he ex-
pected the volume would be ready for publication in
the course of a few days.
A copy of Alastor probably found its way to Field
Place, for on February 27th Sir Timothy wrote to
Whitton : " P. B. has published a Poem with some
fragments, somewhat in his usual style, not altogether
free from former sentiments, and wants to find out
one person on earth the Prototype of himself." Sir
Timothy was far from being the only unappreci-
ative reader of this little book. Its merits failed
to attract the attention either of the reviewers or
the public, although these merits were sufficient to
establish the author's reputation as a poet not
463
Shelley in England
unworthy to take his place with Wordsworth and
Coleridge.
An exception to the general neglect of Alastor is to
be found in an article from the pen of Leigh Hunt
that appeared in the Examiner for December i, 1816.
Although it contained the briefest reference to the
poem, and no criticism, it constituted, perhaps, in a
few cordial lines, the first public recognition of Shelley's
poetical gifts. Under the title of " Young Poets " Hunt
spoke of the work of Shelley, John Hamilton Reynolds,
and John Keats — " three young writers, who appear
to us to promise a considerable addition of strength
to the new school. Of the first who came before us,
we have, it is true, yet seen only one or two specimens,
and these were no sooner sent us than we unfortunately
mislaid them ; but we shall procure what he has
published, and if the rest answer to what we have seen,
we shall have no hesitation in announcing him a very
striking and original thinker. His name is Percy
Bysshe Shelley, and he is the author of a poetical
work entitled Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude.'1 More
space was devoted to the two other poets, and speci-
mens of their work were quoted.
In sending a copy of this little book to Southey,
Shelley recalled the pleasure that he had derived from
the conversation and the kindness he had received
from the Lake poet. He pleaded as his excuse for
464
The Death of Harriet
having neglected to write, as he had promised, from
Ireland, " the disappointment of some youthful
hopes, and subsequent misfortunes of a heavier
nature."
As soon as the Court of Chancery had decided the
questions arising under Sir Bysshe's will, Shelley made
preparations for a second visit to the Continent. He
had spent some days in London lodgings at March-
mont Street, and just before embarking for France he
wrote, on May 3rd, from Dover, to William Godwin
to inform him of the state of his concerns. After
detailing certain matters concerning money, he spoke
of his motives in leaving England, and adding a
generous expression of regard for Godwin, said :
" Continually detained in a situation where what I
esteem a prejudice does not permit me to live on equal
terms with my fellow-beings, I resolved to commit
myself to a decided step. Therefore I take Mary to
Geneva, where I shall devise some plan of settlement,
and only leave her to return to London, and exclusively
devote myself to business. I leave England, I know,
not, perhaps, for ever. I return, alone, to see no
friend, to do no office of friendship, to engage in no-
thing that can soothe the sentiments of regret almost
like remorse which, under such circumstances, every-
one feels who quits his native land. I respect you,
I think well of you, better perhaps than of any other
person whom England contains ; you were the philo-
sopher who first awakened, and who still as a philo-
465 2 G
Shelley in England
sopher to a very great degree regulates my under-
standing. It is unfortunate for me that the part of
your character which is least excellent should have
been met by my convictions of what was right to do.
But I have been too indignant, I have been unjust to
you — forgive me ; burn those letters which contain
the records of my violence, and believe me that,
however what you erroneously call fame and honour
separate us, I shall always feel towards you as the
most affectionate of friends."
Godwin had maintained his unfriendly attitude
towards Shelley since Mary's elopement, but he was
not only willing, but desirous, that Shelley should
raise money for him at exorbitant rates on his ex-
pectations. Shelley's frequent letters to him at this
time, which were entirely restricted to the business
of rinding money for him, were written in a stiff,
formal style such as one might adopt in writing to
a stranger, but there is nothing in them to which
exception could be taken. Godwin refused to accept
Shelley's plea for a reconciliation, and their corre-
spondence continued in the same cold strain.
Shelley and Mary took with them their little boy,
William, and Clare Clairmont. They reached Paris
by May 8th, and then went over the same route that
they had traversed on foot in 1814, through Troyes
and as far as NeufcMtel. Here another road was
taken, through Dijon, Dole, Poligny, Champagnolles,
466
The Death of Harriet
Les Rousses to Geneva, where they put up at the
Hotel de Secheron. At the end of May they moved
from the hotel to a cottage — the Champagne Chapuis,
or Champagne Monte Alegre — some two miles from
Geneva, on the border of the Lake, and separated from
the water's edge by a small garden. Byron had arrived
at Geneva on May 25th, about ten days after Shelley,
having left England for the last time on April 25th.
He found the attentions of the British tourists so dis-
tasteful that he soon moved to the Villa Diodati, near
where Shelley was living. The two poets met for the
first time on May 27th. Shelley had sent a copy of
Queen Mob, with a letter, to Byron, who received the
book without the letter, and expressed warm admiration
for the opening lines of the poem.
Shelley had departed from England without in-
forming Whitton. He wrote, however, towards the end
of May, to Longdill requesting him to suggest through
Whitton that his father should increase his income by
£500 a year. Mr. Whitton wrote on May 30th to in-
form Sir Timothy of this suggestion, and said : " It is
scarcely to be believed that a young man could be so
inconsiderate." Whitton, who thought Shelley's " de-
parture without the least intimation very wrong,"
told Sir Timothy he had informed Longdill that he
" thought the proposal would justify and in all "prob-
ability would induce you to say that you would not
467
Shelley in England
mingle yourself with him in any manner, as it is most
evident no liberality on your part can or will influence
him to a conduct consistent with his rank in life."
The two lawyers agreed that a loan of £2000, which
Sir Timothy had promised Bysshe, should stand
over till he returned to England. Shelley probably
wanted his allowance increased for the support of his
two children by Harriet, but he was given to under-
stand that he need not expect Sir Timothy would
augment his allowance, so Shelley now wrote, through
Longdill, with regard to the promised loan, requesting
that any deeds necessary to be executed might be sent
to him by a special messenger on account of the length
of the journey. He also said that his health was
receiving great benefit from the climate. Whitton, in
conveying this information to Sir Timothy, remarked :
" I cannot learn that Mr. Shelley hath or that he pro-
poses to make any arrangement or allowance for the
support or care of his children, and I do not think it
desirable for you to involve yourself with securities
for or from him, and the rather as the expenses will
be considerable, and he may by and by think proper
to make observations that would give pain to those
who wished to serve him."
Whitton wrote to Longdill stating that Sir Timothy
refused to send the deeds to Switzerland for execu-
tion, and that he declined to receive from Shelley any
468
The Death of Harriet
security or to enter into any pecuniary account during
his absence. He added that Sir Timothy had expected
his son "would have made out of his present means a
suitable provision for the support of his children and
not have quitted the country as he hath been informed
without making any such provision." 1
On August i6th Whitton again wrote to Sir Timothy,
enclosing a copy of a letter which he had received from
Shelley. The letter is not forthcoming, but in sending
the copy, Whitton wrote regarding it : "The laboured
civility and pretence of return on account of the £400
is too apparent when you recollect the contents of my
letter to you." This amount was the half-yearly in-
stalment of Shelley's allowance, which no doubt he
thought might be suspended if he delayed his return.
On August 29th, Shelley, Mary, Clare, and William
departed from Geneva, and arrived at Versailles on
September 2nd. After visiting the Palace and gardens
they made their way without touching Paris to Havre,
and from thence they crossed to Portsmouth, reaching
that place on September 7th. Here they parted, Shelley
going to London, and afterwards to Marlow on a visit
to Peacock, while Mary, Clare, William, and the Swiss
nurse Elise went to Bath. On September i6th, Whitton
1 Mary wrote in her diary on August 2nd, two days before Shelley's
twenty-fourth birthday, that he received on that date a letter from
Longdill requiring his return to England: "This put us in very bad
spirits."
469
Shelley in England
announced to Sir Timothy Shelley's return, saying that
he had been in town for a few days.
On September 24, 1816, in consideration of the
Transfer by Richard Whitton into the name of the
poet of £3500 3 per cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities,
Shelley mortgaged to Richard Whitton his rever-
sionary interests in the estates comprised in the
Settlements of 1782 and 1791. Richard Whitton was
a son of William Whitton, and his name was inserted
in such mortgage as Trustee for Sir Timothy, to whom
the sum of stock in fact belonged. The Transfer of
this stock appears to have been substituted for the
suggested loan of £2000. Shelley at this date (Sep.
24) was much pressed for money, and it would seem
that Whitton advanced him £1700 pending the sale
of the stock. In granting the loan, Sir Timothy made
an indispensable condition that Shelley should pay all
his debts. This arrangement therefore rendered it
impossible for him to supply Godwin with a sum of
£300 which he had promised him, but he sent, as he
said, " within a few pounds, the wrecks of my late
negotiation with my father." *•
On the same day (Sep. 24) Shelley made a will whereby
he bequeathed to his trustees, Lord Byron and Thomas
Love Peacock, a sum of £6000 upon trust that they
should, during the life of his wife, Harriet Shelley, pay
1 Shelley to Godwin, Bath, October 2, 1816.
47°
The Death of Harriet
the same to Harriet, to the intent that the same might
be for her separate use, independently of any husband
with whom she might intermarry after his decease.
He bequeathed to his executors, Lord Byron and
Thomas Love Peacock, £5000 in trust for his son,
Charles Bysshe Shelley, to vest and to be paid on his
attaining the age of twenty-one. He bequeathed to
his trustees £5000 in trust for his daughter, lanthe
Shelley, to vest and be paid on her attaining twenty-
one. He bequeathed to Mary Jane Clairmont (sister-
in-law of his residuary legatee) £6000, and he also
bequeathed unto his trustees the sum of £6000 upon
trust to invest the same in the purchase of an annuity
for the life of the said Mary Jane Clairmont and the
life of such other person as the said Mary Jane Clair-
mont should name (if she should be pleased to name
one), and to pay the said annuity to the said Mary
Jane Clairmont during her life, and after her death to
pay the said annuity, in case the same should not
have run out, to such person as the said Mary Jane
Clairmont should by her will appoint. To Thomas
Jefferson Hogg of the Inner Temple he bequeathed
£2000, and a similar sum to Lord Byron. To T. L.
Peacock he gave £500, and to his trustees he be-
queathed £2000 upon trust to invest the same in the
purchase of an annuity for the life of the said
T. L. Peacock, and the life of such other person
471
Shelley in England
as he should name (if he should be pleased to
name one), upon trust for the exclusive benefit
of the said Thomas Love Peacock in the like
manner before directed as to the before-mentioned
annuity and for his appointees after his death. The
residue of his real and personal estate he devised
and bequeathed unto Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, of
Skinner Street in the City of London, spinster. He
declared that the provision made for his said wife
Harriet Shelley should be accepted by her in lieu and
satisfaction of all dower which she might be entitled
to out of his real estate. He also declared that the
legacies therein before given should not be paid until
the said Mary W. Godwin should be in possession of
his real estate devised to her, and not for four years
thereafter, if during such period of four years she
should duly pay interest on the said legacies at the
rate of 4 per cent, per annum. And he appointed
Lord Byron and Peacock his executors.
After Harriet's death, Shelley, on February 18, 1817,
executed another will. The sums bequeathed in trust
to his executors Byron and Peacock for his children
Charles Bysshe and lanthe were increased to £6000
each, and a similar sum was bequeathed in trust for
the benefit of his son William. The residue of his
estate was left to his wife. The other bequests, in-
cluding the bequests of the two sums of £6000 in favour
472
The Death of Harriet
of Miss Clairmont, are the same as in the first will.
It has been suggested, in some quarters, that the
second sum of £6000 to Miss Clairmont was left to her
"by an error in drawing up the document," but
there does not seem to be the slightest foundation for
this suggestion.
Having executed his first will Shelley rejoined Mary at
Bath, but shortly after his return, he and Mary received
a crushing blow by the death of Fanny Godwin under
distressing circumstances. After Mary's departure
with Shelley from the Godwin household, Fanny's life
had become unendurable owing to Mrs. Godwin's un-
governable temper and malicious tongue. Godwin,
who loved the girl as if she had been his own daughter,
was so incessantly occupied with his literary work that
he was probably not able to spare her much of his
time ; she was consequently at Mrs. Godwin's mercy, as
Clare was seldom at home. Early in October Fanny had
suddenly left home, and had travelled through Bath
and Bristol to Swansea, ostensibly with the intention
of visiting an aunt in Ireland. She did not stop at
Bath to see the Shelleys, but she wrote to Mary from
Bristol a letter full of such ominous hints that Shelley
in alarm immediately set out for that town. He re-
turned, however, to Bath without obtaining any tidings
of her, and again went to Bristol on October loth, but
it was not until two days later that he brought Mary
473
Shelley in England
the news of her unhappy sister's death. On Fanny's
arrival at the Mackworth Arms Inn, Swansea, on the
night of October gth, she had retired to rest, and she was
found the next morning lying dead with a laudanum
bottle beside her. Shelley's grief at Fanny's death was
deep and lasting. He remained at Bath until December
6th, when he came up to town on a visit to Leigh Hunt
at Hampstead. After spending a few enjoyable days
with his newly-made friend, he went to see Peacock at
Marlow, where he succeeded in finding a house in which
some weeks later he settled.
On December I4th, Shelley went back to Bath ; he
had barely recovered from the shock of Fanny's death,
and on the day after his return he received the following
letter from Hookham, conveying the news that Harriet
was dead :
T. Hookham, junr., to P. B. Shelley1
OLD BOND STREET,
Dec. 13, 1816.
MY DEAR SIR, — It is nearly a month since I had
the pleasure of receiving a letter from you, and you
have no doubt felt surprised that I did not reply to it
sooner. It was my intention to do so, but on enquiry I
found the utmost difficulty in obtaining the information
you desire relative to Mrs. Shelley and your children.
1 This letter is from Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. ii. p. 67.
474
The Death of Harriet
While I was yet endeavouring to discover Mrs.
Shelley's address, information was brought to me that
she was dead — that she had destroyed herself. You
will believe that I did not credit the report. I called
at the house of a friend of Mr. Westbrook ; my doubt
led to conviction. I was informed she was taken from
the Serpentine river on Tuesday last . . .l Little or
no information was laid before the jury which sat. on
the body. She was called Harriet Smith, and the
verdict was found drowned.'2'
Your children are well, and are both, I believe, in
London.
This shocking communication must stand single and
alone in the letter which I now address you : I have
no inclination to fill it with subjects comparatively
trifling : you will judge of my feelings and excuse the
brevity of this communication. — Yours very truly,
T. HOOKHAM, JUNR.
There is apparently nothing to show that Shelley had
seen Harriet since his return to England, but he was in
touch with her during his absence abroad, if not per-
sonajly, through his solicitor and through Peacock, who
had attempted to arrange her affairs. Shelley had,
moreover, made a provision for her in his will. As
Hookham's letter shows, early in November Shelley
had written to him asking for information of Harriet
1 Professor Dowden states that the words omitted here have no refer-
ence to Shelley.
a The verdict in fact was " Found Dead."
475
Shelley in England
and the children. Hookham, however, had failed to
obtain any tidings of her, as she apparently had left
her father's house, and about the gth of September,
that is, two days after Shelley's return from the Con-
tinent, she had taken lodgings at 7 Elizabeth Street,
Hans Place, Chelsea. On November gth she left the
lodgings never to return, and on December loth her
body was taken out of the Serpentine.
The veil that for so many years obscured the last
days of Harriet Shelley has been partially lifted by the
recent discovery, through the diligence of Mr. Charles
Withall, of the official papers relating to the coroner's
inquest on her body.1 The inquest was held by John
Henry Cell, the Coroner, at the house of Thomas
Phillips, known by the sign of the Fox, Knightsbridge,
on Wednesday, December n, 1816, Harriet Shelley's
name being given as that of Harriet Smith. This inn,
which seems to have been called the Fox and Bull, for-
merly stood west of what is now known as Albert Gate,
and was for many years the receiving house of the Royal
Humane Society. There was an old wooden gate at the
back, opening into Hyde Park, and it was through
this gate that the bodies of persons drowned in the
Serpentine were conveyed. It was said that Harriet
was known to the landlord's daughter, Miss Mary Ann
Phillips, and for that reason her remains were treated
1 See Appendix for copies of the original documents.
476
The Death of Harriet
with especial tenderness, and spared the degrading
burial " then awarded to the suicide." l
About September gth, Harriet, accompanied by a
Mr. Alder, had taken the second floor in the house of
Mrs. Jane Thomas, a widow, at 7 Elizabeth Street,
Hans Place, Chelsea.2 Harriet stated that she was
married and that her husband was abroad. She en-
gaged the rooms from month to month, and had been
with Mrs. Thomas about nine weeks on November gth,
and on the Thursday preceding that date, she paid her
month's rent. Mrs. Thomas stated that Harriet ap-
peared to be enceinte, and that while she lived with
her she was very gloomy. Mary Jones, Mrs. Thomas's
servant, spoke of Harriet's continual lowness of spirits,
that she said very little and chiefly spent her time in
bed ; that she saw nothing but what was proper in her
conduct. That on Saturday, November gth, after having
breakfasted, Harriet told Mary Jones that she wished
to dine early, consequently the meal was prepared for
her by about four o'clock ; that she was not, however,
occupied with it more than ten minutes. The maid
observed that on going into her room at five o'clock
Harriet was not there. She had gone out without taking
leave of anyone, and was not seen again.
1 Davis' Memorials of Knightsbridge, 1859. I am indebted to
Mr. Walter H. Whitear of Chiswick for this interesting reference.
2 In a deed among the Shelley- Whitton papers dated May I, 1815,
Shelley is described as of Hans Place, Chelsea.
477
Shelley in England
William Alder, a plumber, who lodged at the Fox
public-house, stated that he knew the deceased. It
was he who had accompanied her when she took the
apartments at Elizabeth Street. He appears to have
been in her confidence, for he knew she was about
twenty-one years of age, had been married about five
years, and was living apart from her husband. Alder
also stated, as he was informed, that Harriet had been
missing from her house upwards of a month ; that
at the request of her parents, after she had been absent
about a week, he dragged the Serpentine and all the
other ponds near thereto without any result. Alder,
like other witnesses, noticed that Harriet had for some
time laboured under lowness of spirits, which, he said,
he " had observed for several months before," and he
" conceived that something lay heavy on her mind."
On hearing that a body had been found, Alder went
to look at it, and recognised it as the missing woman.
The body was discovered by John Levesley of 38
Dannings Alley, Bishopsgate Street Within, an out-
pensioner of Chelsea Hospital. About ten o'clock on
Tuesday morning, December loth, as he was walking
by the side of the Serpentine on his way to Kensington,
he noticed something floating in the water, which he
conceived was a human body. He therefore called
to a boy on the opposite side of the water to bring over
his boat, which he did after some time, to the side on
478
The Death of Harriet
which Levesley stood, whereupon he got into the boat
and found that the floating object was the dead body
of a woman ; he had no doubt that it must have lain
in the water for some days.
As there were no marks of violence on the body, and
there was an absence of evidence how or by what
means the deceased met her death, a verdict was re-
turned of " Found dead in the Serpentine River."
The Times of December 12, 1816, the day after the
inquest, contains the following :
" On Tuesday [December loth] a respectable female
far advanced in pregnancy was taken out of the
Serpentine River and brought home to her residence
in Queen Street, Brompton, having been missed for
nearly six weeks. She had a valuable ring on her
finger. A want of honour in her own conduct is sup-
posed to have led to this fatal catastrophe, her husband
being abroad."
The reference to Harriet's condition in this state-
ment is not borne out by the evidence given at the
inquest, the only allusion being that of her landlady,
whose words were : " She appeared in the family
way." From Alder's evidence it is clear that the
family were acquainted with Harriet's whereabouts
after she had left Chapel Street, but it does not appear
whether she had kept them informed of her address
or how they became aware of it. Harriet was evi
479
Shelley in England
dently known by the name of Smith at her lodgings,
as she was so described at the inquest. If the West-
brooks knew of her death before the inquest, they
refrained from disclosing her real name, apparently
in order to conceal her identity. Harriet's death
could hardly have taken place immediately after she
left her lodgings, otherwise her body would scarcely
have been recognisable, after being in the water for
a month. Where was she living in the meantime ?
In an unpublished passage contained in a letter
written by Shelley to Mary after the inquest, he said
that Harriet had been driven from her father's house
by the persecution of her sister, who wished to secure
Mr. Westbrook's fortune for herself, and that Harriet,
having lived with a groom of the name of Smith, had
been deserted by him.1 If Shelley believed that
Harriet had been living with another man, it is more
than probable that he concluded that the man's name
was Smith.
Perhaps the explanation of her adopting the name
of Smith may be gathered from the following entries
1 It is significant that Thornton Hunt, in his article "Shelley ; by one
who knew him," Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1863, wrote : " If she left him "
[meaning, I suppose, if Harriet was the first to break her union with
Shelley, as she undoubtedly was, when she went off to Bath with her
little girl in July 1814], "it would appear that she herself was deserted
in turn by a man in a very humble grade of life ; and it was in conse-
quence of this desertion that she killed herself." Mr. Swinburne in his
article on Shelley in Chamber s's Cyclopedia of English Literature, 1903,
vol. iii. p. 107, refers to Harriet as "the wife who had deserted" Shelley.
480
The Death of Harriet
under the year 1816 in the register of burials in the
parish of Padding ton :
Name.
Abode.
When
Buried.
Age.
By whom
the Ceremony
Performed.
Benjamin Smith.
1380
Mount Street,
St. George's,
Hanover Square
December 1 1
54
Jos. Pickering,
Perpetual
Curate
Harriett Smith.
1383
Mount Street,
St. George's,
Hanover Square
December 13
21
Jos. Pickering.
Perpetual
Curate
That the second of these entries relates to Harriet
Shelley there can be but little doubt. She was accus-
tomed at times to spell her name with the double t,1
she was twenty-one at the date of her death, and
Mount Street was close to her father's residence and
in the neighbourhood of The Mount coffee-house,
where he had made his fortune. Perhaps Benjamin
Smith, who is described as a shopkeeper or painter
and glazier of 61 Mount Street,2 was an old acquaint-
1 She was christened " Harriet," but Shelley in his letter to Medwin,
October 21, 1811, wrote: "The maiden name is Harriett Westbrook,
with two t's — Harriett."
a In Johnstone's Commercial Directory corrected to August 31, 1817,
the name of Benjamin Smith does not appear. In Johnstone's Triennial
Directory for 1817, 1 8 18, 1819, and again for 1822, 1823, 1824, the name
of Benjamin Smith of Mount Street, Shopkeeper, appears, but the
number of the house is not there stated. Perhaps Smith's business was
carried on after his death, his name being retained.
481 2 H
Shelley in England
ance of the Westbrooks, and he may have received her
into his family after she had left her lodgings. It is in-
conceivable, if the relations between Harriet and Smith
had been such as Shelley believed, that she should
have gone to live practically next door to her father's
house. Benjamin Smith, moreover, was thirty-three
years Harriet's senior, and she was not destitute.
Harriet Shelley's place of burial has not hitherto
been revealed. Mr. Whitton's successor, Mr. Gregson,
according to his diary for 1856, was unable to ascer-
tain where she was interred, although inquiries were
made of Hookham and Miss Clairmont. The follow-
ing reference, however (which had evidently escaped
the notice of Mr. Gregson), contained in a letter,
dated July 8, 1823, from Mr. Powell (the solicitor to
Shelley's executors) to Mr. Whitton, "Mrs. Shelley
was buried, I understand, at Paddington," led to a
search being made there recently in the name of
Harriet Smith. The place of burial of a person living
at Hans Place would have been at St. Luke's, Chelsea,
and at Mount Street, in the parish of St. George,
Hanover Square, in the burial-ground at the back of
Mount Street. It was not unusual for persons to be
buried outside their parishes, and perhaps the West-
brooks may have wished that Hairiet's funeral should
not take place in the burial-ground so near to their
house.
482
The Death of Harriet
On making inquiries at Paddington, Mr. Charles
Withall was informed that, when it was proposed to
convert the churchyard into a recreation ground, the
local authorities had a plan made showing the position
of the various graves, and they kept a record of such
inscriptions as were decipherable on the tombstones.
In this record there is no entry of " Harriett Smith,"
but there is an entry of a flat stone, bearing the
name HARRIETT, the remainder of the inscription
being entirely obliterated. The position of this grave
is in the north portion of the churchyard on the east
side, and second from the grave, in a northerly direc-
tion, of a person of the name of Holloway, whose
gravestone is still visible. On converting the church-
yard the representatives of Holloway claimed to
retain the stone of his grave in situ ; the unclaimed
tombstones (and Harriet's was one of these) were
buried three feet below their original positions. The
register of graves belonging to the church is missing.
The idea of suicide with Harriet must have been an
obsession : she had contemplated it since her school-
days as a solution to her troubles, and later she seems
to have discussed it as a means of escape from the
weariness of life. In a letter from Shelley to Miss
Kitchener, written in October 1811, when referring to
the causes that led to his marriage with Harriet, he
said : " Suicide was with her a favourite theme."
483
Shelley in England
Hogg also especially noticed how her mind continually
ran on self-destruction. It is not surprising, then, in
the circumstances in which she found herself during
the early days of December 1816, that she should
have taken her life. The Serpentine would have been
familiar to her owing to its proximity to her lodgings
at Chelsea.
Shelley went to London on the same day that the
news of Harriet's death reached him, to claim his chil-
dren, who were in the keeping of the Westbrooks. He
wrote to Mary on the following day, saying that he
had " spent a day of somewhat agonizing sensations,
such as the contemplation of vice and folly and hard-
heartedness, exceeding all conception, must produce.
Leigh Hunt has been with me all day, and his delicate
attentions to me, his kind speeches of you, have sus-
tained me against the weight of the horror of this
event. ... It is through you that I can entertain
without despair the recollections of the horrors of
unutterable villany that led to this dark, dreadful
death." Shelley's allusion to hard-heart edness was
evidently directed to Eliza Westbrook.
Leigh Hunt, who should have been in a position to
speak of the effect of Harriet's death on Shelley, said
that " it was a heavy blow to him, and he never for-
got it. For a time, it tore his being to pieces : nor
is there any doubt that, however deeply he was accus-
484
The Death of Harriet
tomed to reason on the nature and causes of evil,
and on the steps necessary to be taken for opposing
it, he was not without remorse for having no better
exercised his judgment with regard to the degree of
intellect he had allied himself with and for having
given rise to a premature independence of conduct
in one unequal to the task." In other words, Shelley
admitted that, in having married Harriet, he had made
a grave mistake, and a mistake, moreover, which
proved to be the source of tragedy and endless mis-
fortune.
Shelley did not regard himself as responsible for his
wife's tragic end. In writing to Southey some years
later, who had called him to account for this tragedy,
he said : "I take God to witness, if such a Being is
now regarding both you and me, and I pledge myself,
if we meet, as perhaps you expect, before Him after
death, to repeat the same in His presence — that you
accuse me wrongfully. I am innocent of ill, either
done or intended ; the consequences you allude to
flowed in no respect from me. If you were my friend
I could tell you a history that would make you open
your eyes ; but I shall certainly never make the public
my familiar confidant." l Shelley had made for Harriet
a provision which, with the allowance from her father,
amounted to £400 per annum. Even if she had not
1 Shelley to R. Southey, August 20, 1820.
485
Shelley in England
lived with her two children at Mr. Westbrook's house,
this sum should have been adequate. Shelley was
told by Godwin in January 1817 that he had evidence
of Harriet's unfaithfulness to him four months before
he eloped with Mary Godwin, but one ought not to
place much reliance on Godwin's testimony, as he
was an interested witness. Harriet had her advocates
in Peacock, Hookham, and Thornton Hunt. All be-
lieved that she was not unfaithful to Shelley before
he eloped with Mary Godwin, and they have as much
right to be heard as Godwin.1 In la-ter years many
have pleaded Harriet's cause, but none with such
simple eloquence as Mr. William Watson in his
couplets :
" A star looked down from heaven and loved a flower
Grown in earth's garden — loved it for an hour :
Let eyes which trace his orbit in the spheres
Refuse not, to a ruined rosebud, tears."
1 Trelawny in his Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author, 1878,
vol. i. p. 15, wrote: "I was assured by the evidence of the few friends
who knew both Shelley and his wife — Hookham, who kept the great
library in Bond Street, Jefferson Hogg, Peacock, and one of the Godwins
— that Harriet was perfectly innocent of all offence.'
486
CHAPTER XVI
MARLOW
Shelley's second marriage — The Chancery case — Guardians for the
children — Charles Bysshe Shelley goes to school — His death — lanthe
Shelley — John Westbrook's death and will — Shelley's life at Marlow
— Laon and Cythna — Clare Clairmont — Godwin's debts — Shelley
arrested for debt — "The Hermit of Marlow" pamphlets — The
Shelleys depart from Marlow — Christening the children — Leave-
taking in London.
SHELLEY not only failed to obtain possession of his
children, but he anticipated the possibility of the
Westbrooks contesting his claim for them. He wrote 1
to Mary:- "If they should dare to bring it before
Chancery, a scene of such fearful horror would be
unfolded as would cover them with scorn and shame."
Shelley was told by his solicitor that all pretence to
detain the children would cease in the event of his
marriage to Mary Godwin, but the marriage was
hastened by other causes.
Notwithstanding that Godwin had formerly ex-
pressed an abhorrence of marriage vows, he had him-
self married Mary Wollstonecraft, and after her death
he had gone through the ceremony, for a second time,
with Mrs. Clairmont. He did not disguise his desire
1 Shelley to Mary, Dec. 16, 1816.
487
Shelley in England
that his daughter Mary should marry Shelley, now
that he was free, and he wished that the ceremony
should take place without delay. Mary acquiesced,
realising that until she was married she could not
hope for, what she earnestly desired, a reconciliation
with her father. Clare Clairmont stated that the
question whether the marriage of Shelley should take
place at once or be delayed was put before Sir Lumley
Skemngton, to whom, without mentioning any names,
the circumstances were explained. Sir Lumley, who
advised them to marry at once, had enjoyed, at one
time, notoriety as a leader of fashion, but his advice
was sought, perhaps, because he was both a man of
the world and a man of honour.
The marriage, therefore, was hurried on, and it took
place on December 30 th by licence l at St. Mildred's
Church, Bread Street, a London street which is also
identified with England's other great republican poet,
Milton, who was born there in 1608. The morning
of the day before the ceremony was spent by Shelley
and Mary at the Hunts', and the evening was passed
by them, ' not unpleasantly," at Skinner Street with
the Godwins. The Godwins' hospitality to the bridal
pair included breakfast before they started for the
church, also dinner and supper after their return.
Godwin was undoubtedly gratified by the marriage,
1 A copy of the licence will be found in the Appendix.
488
Marlow
and he recorded the event in his diary with something
less than even his accustomed brevity : " Call at
Mildred w[ith] P. B. S., M. W. G., and M. J."
The following is the entry in the church register :
Percy Bysshe Shelley, of the Parish of Saint Mildred
Bread Street London Widower and Mary Wollstone-
craft Godwin of the City of Bath Spinster a Minor,
were married in this Church by Licence, with the
consent of William Godwin her Father this Thirtieth
Day of December in the Year One thousand eight
hundred and Sixteen.
By me Wm. Hey don, Curate.
_..,,. . , r Percy Bysshe Shelley.
This Marriage was solemmzed I * Wollstonecraft
1 Godwin.
In the Presence of {William Godwin.
( M. J . Godwin.
After the ceremony Shelley wrote to Clare, who was
at Bath, saying that he should return to that place
with Mary on January i, 1817. He told her that " The
Ceremony, so magical, was undergone this morning at
St. Mildred's church in the City. Mrs. G. and G. were
both present, and appeared to feel no little satisfac-
tion. Indeed Godwin throughout has shown the most
polished and courteous attentions to me and Mary.
He seems to think no kindness too great in compensa-
tion for what has passed. I confess I am not entirely
489
Shelley in England
deceived by this, though I cannot make my vanity
wholly insensible to certain attentions paid in a manner
studiously flattering. Mrs. G. presents herself to me
in her real attributes of affectation, prejudice, and
heartless pride. Towards her, I confess I never feel
an emotion of anything but antipathy. Her sweet
daughter [that is, Clare] is very dear to me."
Shelley had now made repeated demands to the
Westbrooks for his children, without avail. The
result of these applications was that the Westbrooks
at once took steps to make the children wards of
Court. As a preliminary step, on January 2, 1817,
John Westbrook executed a settlement of £2000 four
per cent, annuities in favour of Harriet's children,
Eliza lanthe and Charles Bysshe. The parties to the
settlement were John Westbrook of the first part,
the infant children of the second part, and Elizabeth
Westbrook and John Higham of Grosvenor Street of
the third part.
On January loth the infants, by John Westbrook
(their next friend), filed a Bill in Chancery against
Elizabeth Westbrook and John Higham (the trustees
of the settlement), Percy Bysshe Shelley (their father),
Sir Timothy Shelley (their paternal grandfather),
and John Westbrook (their maternal grandfather),
praying that the Court might appoint John West-
brook and Eliza Westbrook, or some other proper
49°
Marlow
persons, to act as their guardians, and that their father
might be restrained from taking possession of their
persons.1
Mr. Whitton conveyed this information to Sir
Timothy in a letter dated January 17, 1817, in which
he wrote :
" I had wished to have spared you all consideration
of the concerns of Mr. P. B. Shelley, but as Mr. West-
brook hath filed a Bill against him to restrain him
from taking the custody of the children and that a
guardian may be appointed to them on the ground
of Mr. P. B. Shelley's tenets, I do not think myself
justified in withholding that information, as the sub-
ject will be heard on Tuesday morning in his Lord-
ship's private room in the hope that the ground of
the application may not be made publick. To support
this application the publication of Queen Mob, and a
printed letter addressed to Lord Ellenborough in
justification of Daniel Isaac Eaton who was lately
convicted of publishing blasphemous works deriding
the Christian religion are produced. They have also
1 Among the Shelley- Whitton papers there are the following docu-
ments relating to the Shelley and Westbrook case : Public Record copies
of the Bill of Complaint (Jan. 8, 1817) ; Answer of P. B. Shelley (Jan. 18,
iSt;); Answer of John Westbrook (Jan. 18, 1817); Master's Report
(April 28, 1818) ; Second affidavit of Elizabeth Westbrook (Jan. 13, 1817) ;
Affidavit of P. W. Longdill (May 24, 1821); also contemporary office
copies of Elizabeth Westbrook's affidavit (Jan. 10, 1817) ; and affidavit
of John Westbrook and Mr. Morphett (Feb. 24, 1818) ; Order for mes-
senger to bring Shelley's infant son into court (Mar. 2, 1815) ; Copy
order directing Sir Timothy, out of the annual sum of ^1000 payable by
him to his son, to pay £120 per annum to Mr. Hume, and also certain
arrears due to him (April 19, 1821).
491
Shelley in England
exhibited several letters written to the late Mrs.
Shelley — all tending to show his, Mr. P. B. Shelley's,
total unfitness for the care he seeks. These documents
are so introduced as not to put them before the pub-
lick, but whether their tendency shall be preserved in
the breast of the few who are professionally concerned
I know not. I have endeavoured to awaken Mr.
Shelley through Mr. Longdill to the perils of his present
conduct : for I understand it is intended that he
should oppose the application of Mr. Westbrook, which
will necessarily lead to an exposure of his unworthy
thoughts and actions, and I know not what a Court
of Justice may be induced to the author of so much
unjustifiable matter as is stated throughout the pages
of his books. What effect remonstrances or rather
the observations I have made will have I know not ;
but most certain am I that the Lord Chancellor will
not allow him to have the care of or communication
with his own children. He says that it is merely from
a feeling of resentment that this measure is taken, and
that Mr. Westbrook and his daughter are equally unfit
with himself to have the care of infants from the turpi-
tude of their own conduct. I think that Miss West-
brook is unworthy and Mr. Westbrook is unequal to
the care whatever his will may be. In these circum-
stances a stranger must be resorted to, and I can easily
conceive that the Lord Chancellor will look to you as
the superintending protector of these little unoffending
creatures. Can you be in town, or will you furnish
me with your sentiments ? Mr. Westbrook has settled
£2000 £4 p.c. on the children in order to bring them
within the protection of the Court. Any sum, however
small, would have been sufficient."
492
Marlow
Whitton's statement covers the chief points in the
Bill of Complaint. The Bill relates, however, that while
Harriet was expecting the birth of her son Charles,
" Shelley became acquainted with a Mr. Godwin, the
author of a work called Political Justice, and with
Mary his daughter, and that the said Percy Bysshe
Shelley about three years ago deserted his said wife
and unlawfully cohabited with the said Mary Godwin,"
and that Harriet thereupon returned with lanthe to
her father's house, where she afterwards gave birth
to Charles Bysshe, and that the children had since
continued and were then in the custody of John West-
brook and his daughter Eliza, and that since Harriet
was deserted by her husband " until a short time
previously to the time of her death she lived with the
said John Westbrook her father and that in the month
of December she died." It also stated that Shelley
had lived, since he deserted his wife, " with the said
Mary Godwin and is now unlawfully cohabiting with
her and has had several illegitimate children by her."
That Sir Timothy Shelley did, in the year 1815,
concur with the said Percy Bysshe Shelley in making
a settlement of certain estates whereby the said
Percy Bysshe Shelley became and was then entitled
to a yearly charge or annuity of £1000, subject to the
payment thereout of the yearly sum of £200 to Harriet,
and that Sir Timothy had contracted to make some
493
Shelley in England
provision for the children, who, while they lived with
Mr. Westbrook, were supported partly by him and
partly by their mother. That since the death of
Harriet, Shelley had demanded the children, and
should they be delivered up to him he intended to
educate them as he thought proper.
Eliza Westbrook in her first affidavit (dated Janu-
ary 10, 1817) swore that she was well acquainted with
the handwriting of Percy Bysshe Shelley, having seen
him frequently write, and she identified certain speci-
fied letters J as being in Shelley's handwriting and
addressed to her sister Harriet, his late wife ; and she
stated that the female mentioned in the letters under
the designation of " Mary " was Mary Godwin, with
whom Shelley in the lifetime of his wife and about the
middle of the year 1814 took to cohabit with him, and
had ever since continued to cohabit, and still did co-
habit, with him. Eliza also swore that another speci-
fied letter was in the handwriting of Shelley, and was
addressed by him to the defendant, Eliza Westbrook,
after the decease of her sister, the late wife of the
defendant, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and that the person
referred to in this letter as "the Lady whose union
with the said defendant this Deponent might excusably
1 These letters, nine in number, have unfortunately disappeared. It
is not the practice of the courts to file exhibits, consequently copies of
them are not to be found at the Record Office. The originals would have
remained with the Westbrooks3 solicitors.
494
Marlow
regard as the cause of her sister's ruin " was also the
said Mary Godwin. She also swore that the copy of
Queen Mab with the subjoined notes and A Letter to
Lord Ellenborough were written and published by
Shelley, she having frequently seen the manuscript
of such respective books in the handwriting of the
said defendant, and having repeatedly seen him en-
gaged in writing the same, and that these books then
produced were presented by the defendant to his late
wife, and that since her death she had received several
applications from the said defendant Percy Bysshe
Shelley, and from Mr. Leigh Hunt on his behalf, de-
manding the infant plaintiffs to be delivered to the
said defendant, Percy Bysshe Shelley.
In Eliza Westbrook's second affidavit (dated Janu-
ary 13, 1817) she swore that Shelley had married
Harriet. in August 1811, and that after the birth of
Eliza lanthe, and while Harriet was pregnant with
Charles Bysshe, Shelley deserted his wife, and, as she
[Eliza] " hath been informed and verily believes,"
unlawfully cohabited with Mary Godwin. That there-
upon the said Harriet had returned to the house of
her father, John Westbrook, with Eliza lanthe, where
soon afterwards she gave birth to Charles Bysshe.
That the children continued and were at the date of
the affidavit in the care and protection of John West-
brook. That Harriet had remained at the house of
495
Shelley in England
her father and in his protection from the time of her
desertion " until a short time previously to her
death . . . and that in the month of December last
she died." She also swore that while the children
lived at their grandfather's they were partly sup-
ported by their mother and partly by Mr. Westbrook,
who, in order to make some provision for them, had
transferred the sum of £2000 four per cent, bank
annuities into the names of her, the said Eliza West-
brook, and of John Higham, upon the trusts contained
in the said indenture of January 2, 1817. In the
sworn answer (dated January 8, 1817) of Eliza West-
brook and John Higham they said that they were
ready and willing to transfer the stock into court.
In John Westbrook 's sworn answer he admitted that
he had transferred the above-named sum into the
names of Eliza Westbrook and John Higham, that he
claimed the interest in the said bank annuities by
virtue of the trusts of the said indenture, and denied
any unlawful combination and confederacy with the
complainants in the Bill of Complaint.
Shelley's sworn answer is dated January 18, 1817.
He stated that after the birth of Eliza lanthe Shelley
he and Harriet " agreed, in consequence of certain
differences between them, to live separate and apart
from each other," but he denied that he deserted his
late wife " otherwise than by separating from her as
496
Marlow
aforesaid." He admitted that after the separation
Harriet returned to her father's house with Eliza
lanthe Shelley, and that Charles Bysshe Shelley was
afterwards born as stated in the Bill of Complaint,
that at Harriet's urgent entreaty he permitted the
children " to reside with her under her management
and protection after her separation," although " he
was very anxious from his affection for his children
to have them under his care and management during
his said wife's life but that he forbore so to do in
compliance with the wishes of his wife and on account
of their tender age, intending nevertheless to have
them under his own care and to provide for their edu-
cation himself as soon as they should be of a proper
age or in case of the death of his said wife, never having
in any manner abandoned or deserted them or had
any intention of so doing. That if the children were
then in the care of Eliza and John Westbrook they
were so against his consent, and that they had been
clandestinely placed in some place unknown to him,
without his being able to find them or have access to
them, and that since the death of his wife he had
frequently applied to the said Elizabeth and John
Westbrook and requested to have his children delivered
up to him, and that they refused to deliver them up
or to inform him where they were. He denied that
he was unlawfully cohabiting with Mary Godwin,
497 21
Shelley in England
whom he had married since Harriet's death, and he
denied that Sir Timothy Shelley in the year 1815
concurred with him in making a settlement to the
purport and effect in the said Bill of Complaint. That
up to the month of June 1815 he had been in receipt
from his father of an allowance of £200 per annum
only, and that, in consequence, he had become indebted
to certain persons in large sums of money amounting
altogether to upwards of £5000, and that being pressed
for payment and being totally unable to pay the sum
he had applied to Sir Timothy, who by arrangement
with him had advanced in June 1815 a considerable
sum of money towards the payment of his debts and
had secured to him an annuity of £1000 during the
joint lives of himself and his father, by way of rent
charges out of certain estates belonging to Sir Timothy.
That although the children may have been supported
partly by their mother and partly by John West-
brook, he (Shelley) had, on his father assisting him
with money and increasing his allowance to £1000 a
year, ' immediately ' written to Sir Timothy and
requested him to give directions to his bankers to
pay to the order of the said Harriet Shelley the annual
sum of £200 in quarterly payments out of his allow-
ance, which was accordingly done : that the first
instalment had been paid in June 1815, and that in
the same month of June 1815, he had sent Harriet
498
Marlow
the full sum of £200 with which to discharge her debts.
That this allowance to his wife was regularly paid to
Harriet to the time of her death. That if he got
possession of the children he should educate them as he
thought proper, which he intended to do ' virtuously '
and properly, and to provide for their support and
maintenance in a manner suitable to their birth and
prospects in the world, and to the best of his judgment
and ability ; that he humbly submitted and insisted
that being their father he was the natural guardian of
his children, and that it was his duty to provide for
their maintenance and education. That in order to
make provision for the children sufficient to enable
the said John Westbrook to contest his just right as
the father and natural guardian of the children, but
not further and as he believed for no other purpose,
the said John Westbrook might have transferred the
sum of £2000 bank annuities to Eliza Westbrook, John
Higham and another mentioned in the Bill of Com-
plaint for the benefit of such children, that his children
were of such tender age that they could not from any
reasonable ground of objection on their part be de-
sirous that they should not be placed in his custody,
not being of sufficient age, as he submitted and insisted,
to judge for themselves either as to that or any other
circumstances that could affect their future prospects
or welfare in life. And he humbly submitted and
499
Shelley in England
insisted that he was exclusively entitled to their cus-
tody and care, and that he ought not to be deprived
thereof or to have his just rights as their father and
natural guardian taken from him or abridged, and that
they ought to be delivered up to him."
Sir Samuel Romilly, one of the leading members of
the Chancery bar, was engaged for the Westbrooks.
Charles Wetherell was Shelley's leading counsel, and
he was supported by Basil Montagu and Mr. Bell,
none of whom, unfortunately for Shelley, were so
skilled as Romilly for eloquence and experience.
Wetherell, who subsequently defended successfully
James Watson in a high-treason case, was knighted
some years later. Montagu was the learned editor
of Bacon and the friend of Godwin and Charles Lamb,
but he was no match for Romilly.
Reporters were not admitted to the court, but a
short account of the proceedings appeared in the
Morning Chronicle, probably from hearsay.
Mr. WetherelTs brief, which was prepared by Long-
dill, contains the following observations on the Bill of
Complaint.1 Little, it was admitted, could be said
in defence of Queen Mab, but that it was written
and printed by the author when he was only nine-
1 The brief, in the possession of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., was
quoted from at length in the Life of Shelley by Professor Dowden, of
whose account of the Chancery proceedings I have ventured to make
liberal use.
500
Marlow
teen, and only distributed to personal friends ; twenty
copies, it appears, had got abroad. The copy re-
ferred to by Miss Westbrook was one that Shelley
had given confidentially to his late wife. He had
not been able to obtain a copy of the Letter to
Lord Eilenborough, as only a few copies were printed
and none ever circulated publicly. Notwithstanding
Shelley's " violent philippics against the despotism of
marriage," he had married twice before he was twenty-
five, and was " no sooner liberated from the despotic
chains, which he speaks of with so much horror and
contempt, than he forges a new set and becomes a
willing victim of this horrid despotism." It was
hoped that a consideration of the difference between
his speculative opinions and his actions would induce
the Lord Chancellor not to think very seriously of
this boyish and silly but entirely unjustifiable publica-
tion of Queen Mob. There appeared to be no case in
which the Chancellor had exercised his right of taking
the children from the care of their father solely on
account of his religious opinions, and as Shelley had
married Miss Godwin, the objection of his connection
with her was at an end. No danger at present could
be apprehended as to the effects of the father's re-
ligious opinions. Shelley was tenant in tail to the
Shelley estates to the value probably of £8000, besides
having not very remote prospects of a still larger
Shelley in England
inheritance. If the children were taken from his care it
might effect an estrangement of all parental affection on
the one hand and filial piety on the other, and it was
" feared that he might be led to look on the children
which he might have by his present wife (one of whom
was born during the life of the late Mrs. Shelley) as
the sole objects of his affection, as well as of his pecuni-
ary consideration." It was presumed that the peti-
tion of the Westbrooks for the custody of the children
would not be granted, as Mr. Westbrook formerly
kept a coffee-house. There were even greater objec-
tions to Miss Westbrook, who was described as
" illiterate and vulgar," and it was by her " advice and
active concurrence, and it may be said by her manage-
ment, that Mr. Shelley when at the age of nineteen
ran away with Miss Westbrook, then of the age of
seventeen, and married her in Scotland. Miss West-
brook was then nearly thirty, and if she had acted as
she ought to have done as the guardian and friend of
her younger sister, all this misery and disgrace to both
families would have been avoided."
The case was heard on Friday, January 24, 1817,
before Lord Chancellor Eldon, who declared that he
would give his decision on another day. Subsequently
an application was made to him to deliver his judg-
ment in his private room, and this he arranged to do.
While the decision was still in the balance, Shelley
502
Marlow
wrote to Mary, on January 3Oth, in a depressed mood :
" I have little doubt in my own mind but that they
will succeed in the criminal part of the business — I
mean that some such punishment as imprisonment
and fine will be awarded me by a jury."
The Chancellor gave his judgment in writing on
March 17, 1817. He stated that there was nothing
in evidence before him to authorise him in thinking
that Shelley had changed before he arrived at the age
of twenty-five the principles he avowed at nineteen,
that he thought there was ample evidence in the papers
and the conduct that no such change had taken place.
That this was a case in which, as the matter appeared
to him, the father's principles could not be misunder-
stood, in which his conduct, which he (the Chancellor)
could not but consider as highly immoral, had been
established in proof, and established as the effect of
those principles ; conduct nevertheless which he repre-
sented to himself and others, not as conduct to be
considered as immoral, but to be recommended and
observed in practice and as worthy of approbation.
He considered it, therefore, as a case in which the
father had demonstrated that he must and did deem
it to be a matter of duty which his duties imposed
upon him, to recommend to those whose opinions and
habits he might take upon himself to form, that con-
duct in some of the most important relations of life
503
Shelley in England
as moral and virtuous, which the law called upon him
(the Chancellor) to consider as immoral and vicious —
conduct which the law animadverted upon as incon-
sistent with the duties of persons in such relations of
life, and which it considered as injuriously affecting
both the interests of such persons and those of the
community.
That he could not therefore think that he would be
justified in delivering over the children for their educa-
tion exclusively to what was called the care to which
Mr. Shelley wished it to be intrusted. That much had
been said upon the fact that the children were of tender
years. That in what degree and to what extent the
Court would interfere in that case against parental
authority could not be finally determined till after
the Master's report. That in the meantime he re-
strained the father and his agents from taking posses-
sion of the persons of the infants or intermeddling
with them till further order, and he referred it to the
Master to inquire what would be a proper plan for the
maintenance and education of the infants and also
to inquire with whom and whose care the infants
should remain during their minority or until further
order.
Shelley had lost his case, and it now remained for
him and for the Westbrooks to nominate guardians
for the care and education of the children.
504
Marlow
On August 1st the following proposals were laid
before the Master in Chancery with regard to their edu-
cation and for the appointment of a proper person
under whose care they should be placed. Shelley, as
defendant, nominated his solicitor, P. W. Longdill, and
his wife for that position, and the plaintiffs proposed
that the children should be placed in the family of the
Rev. John Kendall, who was the Master of Lord Ley-
cester's Hospital at Warwick, and Vicar of Budbroke.
The children, as a matter of fact, at the time of Harriet
Shelley's death were under the care of this Mr. Kendall.
The Master certified that, as the children " would
have a better chance of receiving such an education
as would contribute to their future welfare and happi-
ness in Mr. Kendall's family than if they were brought
up according to the proposal under the directions of
their father, he approved the proposal laid before him
on behalf of the plaintiffs."
Mary Shelley, in writing to Mrs. Leigh Hunt on
August i6th, says : " Our sensations of indignation
have been a little excited this morning by the decision
of the Master of Chancery. He says the children are
to go to this old clergyman in Warwickshire, who is
to stand instead of a parent. An old fellow whom
no one knows and [who] never saw the children. This
is somewhat beyond credibility did we not see it in
black and white. Longdill is very angry that his
505
Shelley in England
proposition is rejected, and means to appeal from
the Master to the Lord Chancellor." Apparently
Longdill made an appeal, for if he did not himself
secure the custody of the children, it was decided
that they should be removed from the care of Mr.
Kendall.
Mr. Whitton wrote to Sir Timothy, on November 24th,
to inform him that the Chancellor had refused to
appoint either Mr. Longdill or Mr. Kendall as guardian
of the children. The question of the custody of the
children, however, was not settled till some months
later. The Master in his report, dated April 28, 1818,
stated that Mr. Westbrook had named the Rev. Jacob
Cheesborough of Ulcombe, Kent, and his wife as
suitable guardians, but the Master approved of the
persons nominated by Shelley, namely Thomas Hume
of Brent End Lodge, Hanwell, Doctor in Medicine,
and Caroline his wife, " with whom and under whose
care the infants shall remain during their minorities
or until further Order of the Court."
Dr. Hume and Mr. Cheesborough both submitted
proposals and plans for the education of the children
to the Master, who gave his approval to Dr. and Mrs.
Hume's scheme.1 Dr. Hume proposed that the boy,
who was then about three, should at the age of seven
1 The following are the chief points of Dr. Hume's scheme from the
Master's Report.
506
Marlow
be placed at a good school to be instructed in the rudi-
ments of the classics, in ancient and modern history,
and be prepared for one of the large or public schools,
whither he should be sent at a proper age, if circum-
stances permitted, to one of the universities. But
with respect to placing him at the university, or by
anticipation pointing out any particular profession or
mode of life for the child, Dr. Hume considered it
would be premature. In the choice of schools Dr. and
Mrs. Hume would prefer one under the superintendence
of an orthodox clergyman of the Church of England,
but he did not consider the circumstance of the head-
master being a clergyman positively essential if there
were other points of high recommendation in favour
of an establishment.
With respect to the girl, then of the age of about five,
it was suggested that she should be educated at home
under the immediate eye of Mrs. Hume, who would
herself instruct her in history, geography, and litera-
ture in general. The accomplishments of drawing,
painting, music, singing, and dancing should receive
all the attention they deserve, when the child dis-
played a capacity of receiving the necessary instruc-
tions ; and the more homely employments of fancy
work and sewing should not be neglected ; domestic
economy too should receive its share of attention. In
short, Dr. and Mrs. Hume, feeling that a young mind
5°7
Shelley in England
must be continually occupied, Would endeavour to
keep it occupied by those things which in some way or
other lead to its improvement or to general usefulness.
Upon the score of dress Dr. and Mrs. Hume would, if
necessary, be very positive on the absolute necessity
of resisting and disregarding the fashions of the day,
if they included, as they do in their opinion at the
present day, an apparent abandonment of all feelings
of feminine delicacy and decency. Habitual neatness
of dress they would require on the most private occa-
sions, and an habitual decency of dress on all occasions.
As to the general reading of the girl at a more advanced
age, Dr. and Mrs. Hume would, as far as their influ-
ence extended, keep from her perusal all books that
tended to shake her faith in any of the great points
of the established religion. They would discounte-
nance the reading of novels, except, perhaps, some few
unexceptionable books of that sort. They would to a
certain degree encourage the reading, and indeed the
studying of some of our best poets, but with respect to
Pope and some others Dr. Hume would take care that
she was furnished with selections only. Of Shake-
speare Dr. Hume understands an edition purified from
its grossness has been published, and this edition he
would put into her hand. He believes that an edition
of Hume's History of England has lately been published
in which his insidious attacks on religion are omitted,
508
Marlow
and with this edition Dr. Hume would take care she
was provided.
To the morals of the children Dr. and Mrs. Hume
would pay particular attention, and would make
instruction and discipline go hand in hand. They
would endeavour strongly to impress on the children
notions of modesty and self-diffidence, and to repress
every feeling of vanity and self-sufficiency. They
would endeavour to inculcate in them high notions
of the value of a character for truth and personal
honour, and a thorough detestation of affectation,
deceitfulness, and falsehood. Dr. and Mrs. Hume
conceived it was the duty of a parent and guardian,
among other things, in not countenancing — and, indeed,
in not tolerating — any irreverent allusions in matters
of religion. On the subject of religion they would
bring up the children in the faith and tenets of the
Church of England ; they would deem it an imperative
duty to inculcate on them solemn, serious, and orthodox
notions of religion, but at the same time they would
be cautious not prematurely to lead their unripe minds
to that momentous subject. To a morning and even-
ing prayer and thanksgiving, and to grace before and
after meals, they would regularly accustom the chil-
dren, and would take occasion to inculcate on them
general religious feeling without bringing to their
notice controversial points that might excite doubts
509
Shelley in England
which they would be unable to solve. What is clearly
revealed they would teach them fervently to embrace.
A regular attendance at Divine Service on Sundays
Dr. and Mrs. Hume would (when the children arrive
at a proper age) consider an indispensable duty.
With respect to the intercourse to be permitted
between Mr. Shelley and his children, the Lord Chan-
cellor having intimated that he should suspend his
judgment as to how far and in what degree he would
in this case interfere, Dr. and Mrs. Hume would feel
it their bounden duty implicitly to obey the order
and directions of the Lord Chancellor with respect
to the intercourse and interference of Mr. Shelley
with the children, whatever that order and these
directions might be.
It is not surprising that such a rule of perfection
should have proved irresistible to the Master in
Chancery. But Dr. and Mrs. Hume were evidently
so conscious of the responsibility that they were pre-
pared to undertake, or so very eager to obtain the
guardianship of the children, that they carefully left
no point in their education unconsidered. Their
scheme embraced much that was calculated to turn
out a couple of young prigs. It would be interesting
to know what Shelley thought of this plan, if he
ever saw it, for the education and upbringing of
his children. Fortunately this worthy couple were
Marlow
not given many years to apply to the children their
system.
The children remained with Dr. Hume until they
were removed from his care by an order of the Court
of Chancery dated January 22, 1822, and placed in
the custody of the Rev. James Williams and Elizabeth
his wife, of Chelsfield, near Foots Cray, in Kent.
Their nomination was made on the recommendation
of the Westbrooks, whose solicitors, Messrs. Dease,
Dendy & Morphett, wrote on January 2, 1822, to
Mr. Whitton saying that Sir John Lubbock and Mr.
Alderman Atkins had seats in Mr. Williams' neigh-
bourhood, and were well acquainted with him. Sir
Timothy approved of " the situation at Chelsfield for
the Poor Little Innocents under so respectable recom-
mendations as well as the sacred obligation Sir J. W.
Lubbock and Mr. Richard Williams offer from the
usage of the Court of Chancery." x
With the death of Shelley, his allowance for the
maintenance of the children ceased. Mr. John A.
Powell, the solicitor for Shelley's executors, furnished
Mr. Whitton, on November 15, 1822, with copies of
certificates to prove the poet's marriage with Harriet
Westbrook in Scotland and London, and the birth of
their son, and he added that he presumed the sum
usually allowed for the children's maintenance and
1 Sir Timothy Shelley to William Whitton, Feb. 3, 1822.
Shelley in England
education had been stopped until the legitimacy of
the son had been proved. Whitton wrote to Powell,
on March 10, 1823, stating that Sir Timothy agreed to
pay the next quarterly allowance, but that he declined
to give any pledge or assurance that he would continue
his payments for the children, as any such payment
might be unnecessary if the legacies given to the
children by their father should be raised for their
benefit.
The difficulty of providing for the children was
surmounted by an order of the Court of Chancery
(dated July 21, 1823) appointing Sir Timothy Shelley
guardian of his grandson Charles Bysshe Shelley, and
Mr. Westbrook and his daughter, Mrs. Farthing Beau-
champ (formerly Eliza Westbrook), guardians of Eliza
lanthe Shelley.
Sir Timothy put little Charles to school with the Rev.
Alexander Greenlaw, D.C.L.,1 of Zion House Academy,
Brentford, where Shelley received his first schooling.
Mr. Wnitton wrote from his office to Sir Timothy about
the boy on August 8, 1823 : " Charles is well engaged
at a Mutton Chop in my front room. Mr. Williams [his
custodian] brought him here this morning and I paid
him £50 for his quarter and half quarter and for his
1 In Foster's Alumni Oxonienses he is described as " Rev. Alexander
Greenlaw, son of John, of Elgin, co. Moray, Scot. Gent., St. Alban Hall.
Matric. 8 July 1790, aged 25; B.A., 1796; M.A., 1801 ; B.C.L. and
D.C.L., 1804 ; died at Blackheath, 1829."
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Journey. I intend to take him home with me in the
afternoon, and put him into the hands of Mrs. Whitton
so that he may be properly clothed and all necessary
articles be prepared for his going to school on Monday."
Charles, however, was unwell and the Whittons de-
tained him for a few days, when Mrs. Whitton took
him to school herself and saw Dr. Greenlaw, who pro-
mised to give him his particular attention. When
Whitton's daughter saw the boy some days later he
told her that he was " happy." It is to be hoped that
Charles had a better time at the school than his father,
for he was a delicate child. There is a reference to him
in a letter of Whitton's to Sir Timothy on October 27,
1823, in which he says that his wife had brought Charles
to Stockwell on Saturday, that " he returned this
morning/' apparently to school, and he had a bad cold.
Three years later, in June 1826, we read in Whitton's
correspondence that the boy was lying ill at Field Place
and was being looked after by his grandmother and
aunts, and that a physician had been called in. As a
matter of fact, the child was suffering from consump-
tion. Whitton wrote to Peacock about the boy's health
and enclosed a doctor's report ; he does not mention the
nature of his complaint, but its gravity was apparent,
as he says he fears it puts a complete negative to Mrs.
Shelley's hope of raising an annuity " upon her ex-
pectant interest in the Estates incumbered as they have
513 2 K
Shelley in England
been." The condition of the boy grew rapidly worse :
his grandfather, who was undoubtedly fond of him,
wrote on September nth from Field Place to Whitton :
" Last evening the medical attendant doubted if poor
little Charles could survive an hour, but not all night :
with attention and care he still exists, it cannot be
for long, nor does he suffer by pain, and the great con-
solation was, he talked of getting downstairs and be
better. The next time I write in all human probability
that he is called to another, and, I trust, a better world."
On September I4th, Whitton wrote to Peacock to say
that he had just received a letter from Sir Timothy
with the news of " the death of poor dear little Charles
without a struggle. Will you please to acquaint Mrs.
Shelley of this event." Mr. Westbrook was also in-
formed of the fact through his solicitor.
In the Register at Warnham, Sussex, is the following
entry among the burials :
1826. Sep. 16. Charles Bysshe, son of late Percy
Bysshe and Harriet Shelley age n years.
EVAN EDWARDS, Vicar.
From this it appears that the boy was buried by
Mr. Edwards, who had taught his father the elements
of Latin in 1798.
Mrs. Beauchamp proved a kind guardian to her
niece lanthe, who married, on September 27, 1837,
514
Marlow
Mr. Edward Jeffries Esdaile, by whom she had two
sons, Charles and William. The latter became a
clergyman, and died in 1915 ; he recalled with
gratitude in later years his early impressions of Mrs.
Beauchamp and her kindness to his mother. He
remembered her "as a handsome, grand old lady,
with dark front of hair, piercing dark eyes, and with
a kind manner to children, but of whom we were
somewhat afraid. Her carriage, old-fashioned large
chariot, spot dog, large horses, man-servant, lady-
companion, formed a whole which made a deep im-
pression on my childish memory." 1
The name of Eliza Westbrook's husband was origin-
ally Farthing, and he was a clerk in a London bank,
when an old lady named Beauchamp fell in love with
him and left him all her property, on condition that
he should change his name to Beauchamp.2
Mrs. Beauchamp subsequently inherited the property
of her father, John Westbrook, who died in 1835 at
Walford House, Mr. Beauchamp 's residence. In his
will (proved May 22, 1835, by Robert Farthing Beau-
champ and John Squire, the surviving executors) he
is described merely as of Chapel Street, Grosvenor
Square, but in the Probate Act as formerly of Mount
1 These reminiscences of the Rev. William Esdaile were given by
Professor Dowden in his Life of Shelley, vol. i. p. 142.
2 Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. i. p. 142.
515
Shelley in England
Coffee-house, Grosvenor Square, afterwards of Chapel
Street, Grosvenor Square, but late of Walford House,
near Taunton, in the County of Somerset. He
bequeathed the whole of his residuary estate to his
executors upon trust for his daughter and only sur-
viving child Elizabeth for life, and then to her chil-
dren. The personal estate was sworn under £60,000. l
Mrs. lanthe Esdaile, as stated on an earlier page,
died in June 1876.
For the sake of continuity we have followed the
fortunes of Shelley's children by Harriet, but we will
now return to his doings at the beginning of the year
1817. On February I4th he took a place, afterwards
known as Albion House, in West Street, Great Marlow,
from the preceding December 2ist, on a lease for twenty-
one years. The house, or houses, of which there were
1 John Westbrook is described as of the Parish of St. Mary, Lambeth,
vintner, in the Bond into which he entered on July 15, 1780, with the
Bishop of London, for his marriage with Ann Elliott of the Parish of
St. George, Hanover Square, Spinster. In the allegation bearing the
same date as above, Westbrook is described as a bachelor aged twenty-nine
years, and Miss Elliott as twenty-three. The marriage was solemnized
on July 20, 1780. The Mount Coffee-house where Westbrook made his
money was at No. 78 Lower Grosvenor Street, a few doors from New
Bond Street. The house, which still appears to be the old building, has
been renumbered 80. It is now a private residence in the occupation of
Dr. Cowper. Peter Cunningham tells us that there was a famous coffee-
house in Mount Street known as The Mount, frequented by Laurence
Sterne during the latter years of his life, while he was occupying lodgings
at 41 Old Bond Street, where he died on March 18, 1768. Sterne
addressed many of his letters from this coffee-house. The site of No. 23
Chapel Street is now occupied by part of No. 2 Aldford Street.
516
Marlow
three adjoining each other, had lately been in the
occupation of the governor and members of the Royal
Military College, and was the property of Mr. Jeffrey
Tylecote of Burton-on-Trent. Besides these three
houses, with the gardens belonging to them, Shelley
had also taken a lease of a meadow of four acres ad-
joining. The north side of this meadow was bounded
by land in the occupation of Rachel Hamilton, on the
south by West Street, and on the east by Oxford Lane.
Shelley remained in the house for about a year, and
transferred the lease, on February 14, 1818, to a Mr.
William Carter of Hackney.1
Shelley and Mary spent much of their time during
the first three weeks of February 1817 with the Hunts
at Hampstead, and were introduced to their interest-
ing circle of acquaintances and friends. Mary's diary
tells of Leigh Hunt's musical evenings ; it mentions
Keats, who came in several times ; and it records the
occasion on which he brought John Hamilton Rey-
nolds to tea, so that the three " Young Poets "
whose work had formed the subject of Hunt's recent
article in the Examiner met together in the flesh.
Keats, who was inclined to suspect those of gentler
blood than himself, did not take to Shelley, and
1 This information is derived from the deed of release which is in the
possession of the author. The premises are not referred to as Albion
House in the deed.
517
Shelley in England
Shelley did not like Reynolds. Hazlitt was also a
visitor of the Hunts, but Shelley's manner and voice
made a bad impression on the essayist.1 It was not
so, however, with Horace Smith, whose
" Wit and sense,
Virtue and human knowledge ; all that might
Make this dull world a business of delight,"
enabled him to thoroughly appreciate Shelley.
On Sunday, February 23rd, Shelley, Mary, William,
and Clare went to Marlow. In the course of the
following week they entered their new house, where
Godwin paid them an early visit and stayed a night
or two. Hunt then came down with his wife, and
she prolonged her stay for a few weeks.
During the early days at Marlow, Mary busied her-
self with getting the house in order and with correcting
1 Hazlitt in his essay " On Paradox and Commonplace," published
in Table Talk, 1821, said: "The author of 'Prometheus Unbound' . . .
has a fire in his eye, a fever in his blood, a maggot in his brain, a hectic
flutter in his speech, which mark out the philosophic fanatic. He is
sanguine-complexioned, and shrill-voiced." After Shelley's death, in
reviewing the Posthumous Poems in the Edinburgh Review for July 1824,
he gave a not unpleasing picture of the poet. He said : " Mr. Shelley was
a remarkable man. His person was a type and shadow of his genius.
His complexion fair, golden, freckled, seemed transparent with an inward
light, and his spirit within him—
' So divinely wrought,
That you might almost say his body thought.'
He reminded those who saw him of some of Ovid's fables. His form,
graceful and slender, drooped like a flower in the breeze. But he was
crushed beneath the weight of thought which he aspired to bear, and was
withered in the lightning-glare of a ruthless philosophy !"
518
Marlow
the proofs of her novel, Frankenstein, the publication
of which was offered to John Murray and to Oilier
and refused by both of them. It was subsequently
issued by Lackington, probably in January 1818.
While the book was on offer to Lackington, Mary gave
birth, on September 2nd, at Marlow, to a girl, who was
named Clara Everina, after Clare Clairmont and her
great-aunt Everina Wollstonecraft.
Shelley's summer task was the composition of his
poem Laon and Cythna,1 a task to which he addressed
himself, as he tells us in the preface, " with unremit-
ting ardour and enthusiasm." The manuscript was
completed by the end of September. The poem was
dedicated to Mary in lines breathing love and fervour,
lines in which he recalled the storm and stress of his
youth and voiced his hope and fears of the future.
The dedication concludes with these memorable lines :
" If there must be no response to my cry —
If men must rise and stamp with fury blind
On his pure name who loves them, — thou and I,
Sweet friend ! can look from our tranquillity
Like lamps into the world's tempestuous night, —
Two tranquil stars, while clouds are passing by
Which wrap them from the foundering seaman's sight,
That burn from year to year with unextinguished light."
One rejected fragment of this dedication is preserved
among the portions of the original manuscript at
1 After a few copies were issued under this title, the poem underwent
several alterations which were made by the insertion of cancelled leaves,
and it was subsequently published as The Revolt of Islam.
519
Shelley in England
Avington, Hants. Shelley has decorated it with a
pretty drawing of trees, such as he sometimes sketched
on the blank leaves of his manuscripts, but it possesses
a stronger personal interest. The first portion of the
holograph is apparently an early draft of stanza xiii,
but the lines that follow, which form a part of stanza
vi, contain some cancelled lines relating undoubtedly
to Harriet Grove :
" She whom I found was dear but false to me,"
and to Harriet Shelley :
" The other's heart was like a heart of stone
Which crushed and withered mine."
"A voice went forth from that mis[s]hapen spirit
Which was the echo of three thousand years
And the tumultuous world stood mute to hear it
As some lone man who on a sudden hears
The music of his [fatherland] x home — unwonted [awe] fears
Fell on the pale oppressors of our race
[And the free lept forth in joy]
And faith and custom and low-thoughted cares
[Fled from a thousand hearts and found no
[Of songs left that could not be]
[Aught] Like thunder-stricken dragons for a space
[Were torn] Left the deep human heart which is their . . .
dwelling place.
Nor ever found I [found] one not false to me
[Hearts] Hard hearts and cold like weights of icy stone
That crushed and withered mine [which ne'er could]
[and] She whom I found was dear but false to me
The other's heart was like a heart of stone
Which crushed and withered mine."
1 The words between brackets are cancelled in the MS.
520
Marlow
The summer days seem to have slipped pleasantly
away, although the Shelleys were not entirely free
from worries. Besides Shelley's health, which had
suffered and given Mary cause for anxiety, there were
Clare Clairmont's affairs and Godwin's pecuniary
difficulties. Clare, the source of many calumnies
directed against Shelley, was a pretty brunette full of
life, who, with a yearning for romance, was prepared for
any adventure that would lift her out of the paralysing
monotony of her existence with the Godwin household
at Skinner Street. After her return from her first
visit to the Continent with Shelley and Mary she had
called on Byron, who was connected with Drury Lane
Theatre, to ask him for an introduction to the stage.
She did not become an actress, but she met Byron
again when she visited Geneva with the Shelleys in
1816, and she had an intrigue with him there. It is
doubtful whether the Shelleys were ignorant of this
intrigue, but Clare remained with them when they
came back to England, and in January 1817 she gave
birth at Bath to a daughter, subsequently named
Allegra. The Shelleys continued to look after Clare
and the child at Marlow, but the position was a painful
one for Mary, owing to the difficulty of accounting to
the neighbours for Allegra's parentage. Byron, the
reputed father of the child, refused to correspond with
her mother, and it fell to Shelley's lot to write to him,
Shelley in England
So far from disowning Allegra, Byron seems to have
been interested in the welfare of the child, but he
behaved in a thoroughly callous manner towards
Clare. When Shelley, Mary, and their children left
England for the last time in 1818, Clare and Allegra
went with them.
Shelley, as we have seen, received a considerable
sum of money from his father, but this sum was in-
sufficient to discharge his debts. These are said to
have been partly debts incurred in his name by Harriet,
but they consisted undoubtedly to a far greater extent
of certain obligations that he had undertaken, with
want of forethought, on behalf of Godwin. Godwin
was so hopelessly involved that any endeavour to
extricate him from his debts was a hopeless task.
It was as hopeless as attempting to rescue a man in
the toils of an octopus by trying to hack off its tentacles
with a penknife. Shelley's correspondence with God-
win continued to be concerned with money matters,
.but it is not proposed to follow it here. It is suffi-
cient to say that Shelley's affairs were again involved.
Among his creditors was Captain Pilfold, who had
evidently failed to obtain payment of a debt due to
him from his nephew, and who had applied to Sir
Timothy Shelley for it. The nature of the obligation
does not appear, but it may have been that the Captain
522
Marlow
had gone surety for Shelley, who was unable to meet
the debt. Whitton wrote to Captain Pilfold at Nelson
Hall, near Cuckfield, Sussex, on March I2th, saying
that Sir Timothy Shelley had found it necessary to
refer to him regarding Mr. B. Shelley's concerns, and
declined to interfere in them, and he informed him that
Bysshe's solicitors were Messrs. Longdill & Butterfield
of Gray's Inn. The next mention of this affair is to
be found in Mary's letter of October i6th from Marlow
to Shelley, who was at London, in which she writes :
" You say nothing of the late arrest, and what may be
the consequences, and may they not detain you ? and
may you not be detained many months, for Godwin
must not be left unprovided ? All these things make
me run over the months, and know not where to put
my finger and say — during this year your Italian
journey may commence." l Professor Dowden's com-
ment on this passage that " Mary Shelley's fears of
an arrest were not realised," however, was not correct.
It would appear that not only was Shelley arrested
before October i6th, the date of her letter, but that
Mary seems to have feared that he was in danger
of being arrested again, and cautioned him of the
danger of returning to Marlow. She wrote, on
1 Shelley had gone to town on September 23rd to consult Mr. William
Lawrence, a pupil of Abernethy, with regard to his health. The physician
recommended change of air and scene, and Shelley was inclined towards
spending the winter in Italy.
523
Shelley in England
October i8th : " Mr. Wright has called here to-day,
my dearest Shelley, and wished to see you. I
can hardly have any doubt that his business is of
the same nature as that which made him call last
week. You will judge, but it appears to me that
an arrest on Monday will follow your arrival on
Sunday. My love, you ought not to come down. A
long long week has passed, and when at length I am
allowed to expect you, I am obliged to tell you not
to come."
There is evidence of Shelley's arrest, at the instance
of his uncle, Captain Pilfold, in Mr. Whitton's minute-
book, where the following entry appears under the
date of October 22nd : " Attended Mr. Longdill on the
arrest of Mr. Bysshe Shelley to Captain Pilfold and
another creditor and the necessity of him raising money
and his hope that Sii Timy would prevent the neces-
sity of his selling his reversion." On the same day
Whitton gave some further particulars of the arrest
in a letter to Sir Timothy, in which he said that he
had received " a visit some weeks since from Mr.
Longdill stating that a Mr. Gordon of Brighton had
offered Mr. Shelley to purchase the Reversion of the
farm in Shipley at £3000, that Mr. Shelley had debts to
satisfy, and that unless he could borrow some money
he must sell. I did not trouble you," Whitton con-
tinued, " with a communication in writing, but I told
524
Marlow
Mr. Longdill that you would not buy and I believe
would not lend. He has just called on me again and
I find that he has been arrested for his debt and by a
person who held a bill which he accepted for a friend
and that his debts amount to about £1500, and as I
suppose to a much larger amount for he and such like
persons seldom estimate on more debts than what
they are pressed for the payment of. I mention these
circumstances because I am desired to do so, but I
am far from thinking it right that I should recommend
you to do anything for his relief, or to involve your-
self with his debts. As he will sell soon should you
now advance what he wants, I do not see that you
can protect him against himself without involving
your other inoff ending children. I cannot but
think he should be left to find his own means.
If however you think otherwise and will let me
know your wishes, I will endeavour to execute them.
Your past exertions to support him and prevent
a waste of his property must be your consolation.
I understand that he was under arrest for two
days by Mr. Pilfold, and that it has been most
annoying to him as he says his character has suffered
from it."
The date of Shelley's arrest is not mentioned. If
he were arrested before October i6th, as Mary's letter
would have us believe, it may have occurred between
525
Shelley in England
September 30th, when he went to town, and October
loth, when he returned to Marlow. On October nth
he went to London, and he came to Marlow on the
following day with Godwin, and left for town with
him on October i6th.
During Shelley's residence at Great Marlow he
issued two pamphlets under the pseudonym of " The
Hermit of Marlow." The first of these brochures was
A Proposal for Putting Reform to the Vote throughout
the Kingdom. Accepting the fact that the people
were not properly represented by the House of Com-
mons, he advocated, as a remedy, an extension of the
franchise and the summoning of annual parliaments,
and he suggested that a vote of the inhabitants of
Great Britain and Ireland should be taken to ascertain
if they desired such a reform. Towards the expenses
of obtaining this plebiscite Shelley was willing to
contribute a sum of one hundred pounds, or a tenth
part of his annual income, and he believed that others
also would be found to support the work. He did not
advocate universal suffrage, as he considered that the
public were unprepared for it through lack of educa-
tion, but he thought that none save " those who
register their names as paying certain sums in direct
taxes ought to send members to Parliament."
The other Marlow pamphlet was entitled An Address
to the People on the Death of the Princess Charlotte.
526
Marlow
Here he contrasted the death of the Princess with the
execution of Brandath, Turner, and Ludlam, three
operatives who had been convicted of taking part in
the so-called Derbyshire insurrection. On November
7th, the day after the Princess died, these wretched
men were drawn on hurdles to the place of execution,
where they were hanged and decapitated in public.
The death of the Princess, as heir to the throne, was
generally accepted as a national calamity, whereas
Shelley pointed out the real calamity was the state
of England that had caused these uneducated men to
commit acts of violence which, though he deprecated
them, had been expiated by a punishment barbarous
in its severity. These pamphlets constituted Shelley's
final public utterances on politics, and they probably
both had a limited circulation, that of the last, it
is said, being restricted to a private issue of twenty
copies.
Early in October 1817 Shelley and Mary had deter-
mined to quit Marlow, and their chief cause for this
decision was that his health had suffered during their
tenancy : the house, so Mary complained, was very
damp, and the books in the library were mildewed.
It was necessary, however, to let the house before
they could arrange to leave it, and this Shelley managed
to do, according to Miss Clairmont's diary, on Janu-
ary 25, 1818.
527
Shelley in England
He appears to have left Marlow for London on
February 7th. Clare followed with William and
Allegra on the 8th, and Mary departed with her baby
on the following day.
Before he quitted Marlow Shelley raised a sum of
£2000 from William Willatts of Fore Street, Cripple-
gate, to whom he undertook to pay, within three
calendar months after the death of his father, Sir
Timothy Shelley, a sum of £4500.
In connection with this transaction Shelley signed
the following letter : *
P. B. Shelley to William Willats
To MR. WILLIAM WILLATS.
SIR, — You having lent me on security a sum of
Money and Insured my Life the Policy of which In-
surance will be void if I leave England without giving
you notice so that you may increase your insurance
if you think fit, I hereby promise you not to leave
England without giving you sufficient previous Notice
for that purpose.
I am, Sir,
Your Obedt. Serv'.,
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.
LONDON, Jan. 31, 1818.
Witness : Wm. Richardson, Clement's Inn.
George Adams, Fore Street.
Thos. Dignam, Clerk to Wm. Richardson,
Clement's Inn.
1 The signature and date only of this letter are in Shelley's handwriting.
528
Marlow
On arriving in London the Shelleys went to lodgings
at Great Russell Street, Covent Garden, the street in
which the Lambs were then living. Their days were
fully occupied with leave-takings and with preparations
for their visit to Italy. Although Shelley anticipated
a lengthy sojourn abroad, he hardly realised that he
was taking final leave of England. Mary wrote in
her diary, on March gth, " Christening the children/'
who were taken to St. Giles in the Fields, where the
register records the baptisms, on that date, of William
and Clara Everina, children of Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Esq., and Mary Wollstonecraft his wife, of Great
Marlow, co. Bucks, (late of Great Russell Street), the
first born January 24, 1816, the second September 21,
1817 ; also Clara Allegra, reputed daughter of Rt.
Hon. George Gordon, Lord Byron, Peer, of no fixed
residence, travelling on the Continent, by Clara Mary
Jane Clairmont, born January 17, 1817. The offi-
ciating clergyman was Charles Macarthy. Shelley's
last days in London were spent in the society of his
friends ; he saw Hunt, Hogg, Peacock, Horace Smith,
and Keats. Hogg, who dined with Shelley in London
on Sunday, February I5th, probably saw him for the
last time on that occasion. On the eve of the Shelleys'
departure, March loth, Mary Lamb called to say good-
bye, and Peacock supped with them, after attending
the first performance in England of Rossini's well-
529 2L
Shelley in England
known // Barbiere di Siviglia ; Godwin, Leigh Hunt,
and his wife were probably also of the party. During
the evening Shelley was overcome by one of his pro-
found slumbers, and the Hunts, unwilling to arouse
him, went away without bidding him farewell.
530
CHAPTER XVII
THE PARADISE OF EXILES
Shelley leaves England — Lyons — Allegra — Byron and Miss
Clairmont — Shelley at Venice — Death of Clara — Rome — William
Shelley's death — Leghorn — Shelley's annus mirabilis — Birth of
Percy Florence Shelley — Miss Stacey — The Pisa circle — The arrival
of Leigh Hunt — Shelley's death and burial — His heart — The re-
ception of the news by Sir Timothy — Miss Kitchener's death —
Gentleman's Magazine on Shelley — Byron and Mary — Sir Timothy's
parsimony — Mary's departure from Italy.
SHELLEY and his travelling companions left London
early on the morning of March nth, and, spending
the night at Dover, they crossed to Calais on the
following day. Lyons was reached on Saturday,
March 2ist, where Shelley sent Byron a letter to inform
him that Allegra had arrived thus far on her journey.
Shelley wrote again to Byron from Milan in April
inviting him to come and take charge of Allegra ;
Clare also wrote to him, consenting to surrender
the child to its father. Clare agreed, notwithstand-
ing the fact that Byron had stated he could only
receive Allegra on the stipulation that her parting
with the child should be final. Shelley in the mean-
time had heard some gossip about Byron's mode of
life at Venice, and he endeavoured, but without avail,
Shelley in England
to dissuade Clare from giving the child into its father's
care. On April 28th Mary's Swiss maid, Elise, left
Milan with Allegra for Venice, and remained there as
her nurse. It was not until August that Shelley and
Byron met again. Clare, who had received some
letters about Allegra from Elise, longed to see the
child, and persuaded Shelley to take her to Venice,
in the hope that Byron would relent. Clare remained
with some friends while Shelley went alone to call on
Byron, who gave him a warm welcome, and, believing
that Clare was at Padua, he consented that the child
should visit her mother at that place for a week.
Byron took Shelley in his gondola to the Lido, where
horses were in waiting for them, and they rode along
the sands talking. " Our conversation," wrote
Shelley,1 " consisted in histories of his wounded
feelings, and questions as to my affairs, and great
professions of friendship and regard for me. He said,
that if he had been in England at the time of the
Chancery affair, he would have moved heaven and
earth to have prevented such a decision." This
memorable ride on the Lido, " the bank of land which
breaks the flow of Adria towards Venice," was after-
wards immortalised by Shelley in his Julian and
Maddalo. Byron, who had a high regard for Shelley
as a man and a poet, offered him the use of his villa
1 In his letter to Mary, August 23, 1818.
532
The Paradise of Exiles
at I Cappuccini, near Este. Mrs. Shelley, in her
notes to her husband's poem for 1818, has described
this villa as " built on the site of a Capuchin convent,
demolished when the French suppressed religious
houses ; it was situated on the very overhanging
brow of a low hill at the foot of a range of higher
ones. The house was cheerful and pleasant ; a vine-
trellised walk — a pergola, as it is called in Italian —
led from the hall door to a summer-house at the end
of the garden, which Shelley made his study, and in
which he began the Prometheus ; and here also, as
he mentions in a letter, he wrote Julian and Maddalo.
A slight ravine, with a road in its depth, divided the
garden from the hill, on which stood the ancient
castle of Este, whose dark, massive walls gave forth
an echo, and from whose ruined crevices owls and bats
flitted forth at night, as the crescent moon sank
behind the black and heavy battlements. We looked
from the garden over the wide plain of Lombardy,
bounded to the west by the fair Apennines, while to
the east the horizon was lost in the misty distance.
After the picturesque, but limited, view of mountain,
ravine, and chestnut wood at the Baths of Lucca,
there was something infinitely gratifying to the eye
in the wide range of prospect commanded by our new
abode."
To this place Mary set out on August 3ist, but her
533
Shelley in England
little girl, Clara, was taken ill on the journey, and when
she arrived the child's condition was serious. On
September 24th Shelley and Mary took Clara to Venice,
but as soon as they reached that place she showed
symptoms of increased weakness. A physician was
summoned, but he could do nothing for the little
patient, who expired shortly after, and was buried
the following day on the Lido.
The Shelleys spent the winter in Naples, and in the
spring of 1819 they visited Rome ; but they protracted
their visit too long, and at the beginning of June
they were still there. The climate which was respon-
sible for Clara's death brought on a fever which also
proved fatal to little William Shelley. He was only
ill for a few days, but his case was hopeless from the
first. While he lingered, his father watched by his
bedside for sixty hours without closing his eyes. On
Monday, June 7th, at noon, the day on which Shelley
and Mary had arranged to leave Rome for Leghorn,
the child died, and was laid in a nameless grave in
the English burial-ground at Rome, near the Porta
San Paolo. William Shelley's dust rests in the same
earth that covers the mortal remains of Keats. Some
months later Shelley gave instructions for a monu-
ment to be placed over the child's grave, and as he
was not in Rome at the time to superintend the work,
the stone was placed over the body of an adult. This
534
The Paradise of Exiles
accident was afterwards discovered when it was de-
sired to move the child's body and place it beside
the father's ashes in the adjoining cemetery.
Shelley and Mary were anxious to escape from Rome,
with its painful associations of the presence and loss
of their only child. Their friends, the Gisbornes, were
living 'at Leghorn, and in order to be near them the
Shelleys took, for three months, the Villa Valsovano,
a small house in the neighbourhood of the town. Here
Shelley, in his little glazed-roof study, " Scythrop's
Tower " (as he named it, after Peacock's " Night-
mare Abbey "), at the top of the house, attempted,
by means of literary work, to chase away his grief.
There he wrote his tragedy The Cenci, a task which,
he told Peacock, had occupied him for two months,
and of which the first rough draft was finished on
August 8th. He also completed the Prometheus Un-
bound, begun at Este, as far as the third act. The
fourth act, which was an afterthought that occurred
to him at Florence, was completed by the end of
December. The year 1819 was Shelley's annus mira-
bilis ; his literary activities at Leghorn included yet
another achievement, namely, a poem in quite an-
other strain, the delightful conversation piece of
Julian and Maddalo. As Professor Dowden says :
' ' To have created such poems as Prometheus and The
Cenci in one year is an achievement without parallel
535
Shelley in England
in English poetry since Shakespeare lived and
wrote."
But the Villa Valsovano was a sad place without the
children and with Mary's melancholy, which followed
on the death of William. Her grief was alleviated
by the birth of a boy on November I2th at Florence,
where she, Shelley, and Clare had gone at the be-
ginning of October. Shelley, in announcing this
event to his friend Leigh Hunt, wrote on November
13 th : " Yesterday morning Mary brought me a little
boy. She suffered but two hours' pain, and is now so
well that it seems a wonder that she stays in bed.
The babe is also quite well, and has begun to suck.
You may imagine that this is a great relief and a
great comfort to me amongst all my misfortunes, past,
present, and to come. . . . Poor Mary begins (for the
first time) to look a little consoled ; for we have spent,
as you imagine, a miserable five months." The child,
who was named Percy Florence, succeeded his grand-
father, Sir Timothy Shelley, on his death in April
1844, as third baronet.
Shortly before Percy's birth, Miss Sophia Stacey,
with Miss Jones, her travelling companion, arrived in
Florence from Sussex. Mrs. Angeli informs us in her
book, Shelley and his Friends in Italy, that Miss
Stacey was the youngest daughter of Mr. Flint Stacey
of Sittingbourne, and, on the death of her father, she
536
The Paradise of Exiles
became a ward of Shelley's uncle, Mr. Robert Parker.
During her residence with Mr. Parker at Bath she
said she had naturally heard much of Shelley, and,
as Mary told Mrs. Gisborne in a letter, Miss Stacey
"was enthousiasmee to see him." Two days after her
arrival she called at the Palazzo Marini, and learnt
that Shelley, his wife, and Miss Clairmont were staying
there. Miss Stacey kept a diary, from which Mrs.
Angeli has given in her book a charming and unex-
pected sidelight on Shelley's life at Florence. Miss
Stacey wrote some years later : "I shall never forget
his personal appearance. His face was singularly
engaging, with strongly marked intellectuality. His
eyes were, however, the most striking portion of his
face, blue and large and of a tenderness unsurpassed.
In his manner there was an almost childish simplicity
combined with much refinement." She tells us that
Shelley kept a carriage but no horses, " being more
humane to keep fellow-creatures." She was struck
by the quiet life of the poet and his wife, who did not
mix with their fellow-countrymen at Florence. Miss
Stacey seemed to take pleasure in listening to his
talk on the Established Church and Radicalism, on
Love, Liberty, and Death. He spoke to her of his
sisters, of his youthful adventures, discoursed on
authors and music, and desired to be remembered to
his uncle, Mr. Parker. She also noted his studious
537
Shelley in England
habits and his devotion to books. " He is always
reading, and at night has a little table with pen and
ink, she [Mary] the same."
Shelley showed his baby, then two days old, to Miss
Stacey, and remarked that, although it could do no
mischief now, it might some day or other be the
conqueror of provinces. And she then looked at a
picture of William Shelley, and recognised the likeness
to Lady Shelley, his grandmother. Miss Stacey de-
lighted Shelley with her singing, and in return for the
pleasure that he derived from it he gave her the verses
" I arise from dreams of thee," and afterwards wrote
in her pocket-book three songs — " Good-night,"
" Love's Philosophy," and " Time Long Past." The
poet undoubtedly admired his young friend, and, after
hearing her frequently play on the harp, he wrote for
her his beautiful lines, " Thou art fair, and few are
fairer." He assisted her and her friend in making
their preparations for leaving Florence, and went with
them to look at the carriage that they had engaged
to take them to Rome, the step of which being high,
he gallantly lifted Miss Stacey to the ground. When
the day arrived for their departure, Shelley rose early
in order to see them off on their journey.
Sir Timothy alluded to Miss Stacey's visit and to the
birth of his grandson on January 18, 1820, in a letter
from Bath to Mr. Whitton :
538
The Paradise of Exiles
" Some ladies travelling in Italy write to Bath that
they met P. B. at Florence with an addition to his
family of a Son : and with Lord Byron to whom he
offer'd to introduce the ladies : which they declin'd.
It is not likely he will soon visit England with so many
unwelcome guests to ask how he does by a gentle tap."
The statement that Byron was at Florence during
Miss Stacey's visit was incorrect : he was, as a matter
of fact, at Ravenna. Shelley had told Miss Stacey
how much he should like his friend to hear her sing,
and he wrote asking Byron to come, but he was pre-
vented by illness from visiting Florence.
The unwelcome guests mentioned in Sir Timothy's
letters were his son's creditors, one of whom had that
day applied for the payment of a small amount. Other
creditors learnt of Shelley's prolonged absence abroad,
and they also wrote to his father, who seems to have
been much annoyed by their applications, with which
he invariably declined to deal. Sir Timothy was
troubled with the gout, and tried to get relief from his
malady by a visit to Bath, where he stayed several
months, and where he seems to have purchased a
house. He was concerning himself at this time with
the education of his second son, John Shelley, who was
now a youth of fourteen.
On January 26, 1820, the Shelleys left Florence, but
before they departed their little boy, Percy Florence,
539
Shelley in England
was baptized by the Rev. John Harding, Rector of
Coity, Glamorganshire, according to the forms ap-
pointed by the United Church of England and Ireland
for the ministration of private baptism of children
in houses. A copy of the certificate of baptism was
taken by Peacock, on August 15, 1822, to the Rector
of St. James', Westminster, and entered in the register
of that church of baptisms solemnised out of England.
Sir Percy Shelley, in a letter dated January n, 1844,
wrote in regard to his christening : " Miss Clairmont
was present at my baptism. Mr. Hogg knew me when
I was two years old." Mary added, in the same
letter : " Mr. Leigh Hunt saw Percy just at the time
of his father's death in Italy.'1
From Florence, Shelley and Mary went to Pisa,
and there, in that ancient city, with its silent streets
full of memories of the past, they spent on the whole
a period of two years' tranquil happiness, broken by
short occasional visits to Lucca and the Bagni di Pisa.
Clare had obtained a situation in Florence, and her
absence was a relief to Mary, who was able to indulge
to some extent in her love of society. This proved
no attraction to Shelley, who would not tolerate mere
acquaintances, and he was prompted to say of his
wife : " She can't bear solitude, nor I society — the
quick coupled to the dead." Much as Shelley disliked
society, he was now the chief object of interest of a
540
CAPTAIN THOMAS MEDWIN
After a photograph in the possession of his only grand-daughter,
Nobil Donna Zella Opezzo
The Paradise of Exiles
circle of sincere admirers, some of whom he himself
regarded highly. In the summer of 1821 Edward
Ellerker Williams and Jane Williams arrived at Pisa,
and they soon became the intimate friends of Shelley
and his wife. Williams had formerly been in the Navy,
but having left that branch of the service, he obtained
a commission in the 8th Dragoon Guards, and went
to India. He returned to Europe with the lady to
whom he was united, the Jane whose rare beauty
moved Shelley to write some of his most inspired
lyrics. Edward John Trelawny came to Pisa early
in 1822, and was joined shortly after by Byron, and
Thomas Medwin, Shelley's cousin and schoolfellow.
Medwin was a bore, with literary aspirations, but he
had an admiration for Shelley, who, though not
usually long-suffering where bores were concerned,
treated him with his accustomed kindness.1 It was
otherwise with Byron, whose companionship soon made
Pisa intolerable to Shelley. The necessity of finding
a more temperate situation for the summer months,
and probably some desire to escape from Byron's
society, led Shelley to take a house, the Casa Magni,
situated on the seashore at Lerici, in the Bay of
1 This period of Shelley's life has been very fully recorded by Trelawny in
his excellent Recollections, Records, and in his Letters, edited by Mr. H.
Buxton Forman ; by Medwin in his Life of Shelley, which Mr. Forman
has also recently re-edited ; in Williams' interesting Diary, and in
Mrs. Angeli's Shelley and his Friends in Italy.
541
Shelley in England
Spezzia . Thither the Shelley s moved with the Williams' s
on April 26, 1822. It was a somewhat desolate place
for Mary after Pisa, and she chafed at the solitude ;
but Shelley found it entirely to his liking. Early in
the year Trelawny, with Captain Roberts, had super-
intended the building for Shelley at Genoa of the fatal
boat, a small schooner, afterwards named the Ariel,
which was duly brought round to Lerici.
Leigh Hunt arrived at Leghorn towards the end of
June with his wife and family, after an interminable
voyage from England. He came at the invitation of
Lord Byron to found and edit a quarterly magazine,
afterwards known as the Liberal. Shelley, who had
been looking forward to meeting his friend, left Lerici
on July ist with Williams in the Ariel, and spent a
week at Leghorn and Pisa, mostly in Hunt's company.
His last verses, in which he welcomed Leigh Hunt
to Italy, unfortunately have been lost.
The tragic story of the deaths of Shelley and Williams
is familiar to everyone. On the afternoon of July
8th, a day of extreme heat, after taking a last farewell
of Leigh Hunt, they set sail for Lerici, but they never
reached their destination. A violent storm swept
over the sea shortly after they were on their way,
and the boat was obscured from the view of Captain
Roberts, who, from the top of the lighthouse at Leg-
horn, was watching the vessel on her homeward track.
542
The Paradise of Exiles
When the storm-cloud lifted, Roberts looked again,
and observed every other vessel that he had seen in
the Ariel's company, but she was no longer visible.
After some days of agonising suspense, on July i8th,
Shelley's body was cast up on the shore near Via
Reggio ; that of Williams had been recovered some
three miles distant on the previous day. The bodies
were buried temporarily on the shore near to where
they had been discovered, and in order to effect their
removal, they were disinterred some days later and
cremated, according to the Tuscan law. On August
I4th the remains of Williams were burnt, and on the
day following the ceremony was repeated with Shelley's
body by Trelawny, in the presence of Byron and
Leigh Hunt. Shelley's cremation was described in
detail both by Trelawny and Hunt. They related
that, when the rest of his body had been reduced to
ashes, his heart remained unconsumed, and it was
snatched by Trelawny from the burning embers and
given to Hunt, who afterwards resigned it to Mary
Shelley.
After Mary's death Shelley's heart was found,
wrapped in a silken shroud, between the leaves of her
copy of the Pisa edition of Adonais, and the relic was
afterwards enclosed in a silver case. When Sir Percy
Shelley was buried, on December 10, 1889, in his
mother's grave at St. Peter's, Bournemouth, the poet's
543
Shelley in England
heart was interred with him. Many years previously
Lady Shelley had told Mr. Walter Withall of Bedford
Row (a friend of Sir Percy's), that she particularly
wished him to see that the heart was placed in Sir
Percy's coffin in the event of her predeceasing her
husband. She also told him that the heart was kept
in a cushion or pillow, which she always carried with
her whenever she travelled.1
Two books were found in Shelley's pockets when his
body was recovered : Keats's Lamia, of which only
the binding remained, and this was thrown on the
pyre ; and a volume of Sophocles, now in the Bod-
leian. Trelawny afterwards placed Shelley's ashes
in an oak casket, which was sent to Rome and in-
terred in the English Cemetery in January 1823. In
the spring of that year Trelawny visited Shelley's
grave, and seeing that it was overcrowded, he moved
the ashes to their present resting-place in the adjoining
burial-ground.
The first intimation of the death of Shelley to reach
England was contained in the following characteristic
letter written by Leigh Hunt to his sister-in-law, Miss
Elizabeth Kent, which arrived in London not later
1 When Shelley House, Chelsea, was burgled, the thieves broke into
Lady Shelley's boudoir and threw the cushion on the floor, and Lady
Shelley remarked to Mr. Walter Withall that it was very fortunate it had
not been taken. It was on this occasion that she gave him the above
directions and showed him the pillow.
544
The Paradise of Exiles
than the second or third day in August. The com-
munication for Hunt's brother, John, for the Examiner,
duly appeared in the next issue of that paper.
Leigh Hunt to Elizabeth Kent x
PISA, zoth July 1822.
DEAREST BESSY, — Your sister is as well as she can
be expected to be ; so am I, and the children ; all
which I tell you at once, at the head of my letter, lest
the frightful note I am compelled to strike up, should
affect you still more than it must. Good God ! how
shall I say it ? My beloved friend Shelley, — my dear,
my divine friend, the best of friends and men — he is
no more. I know not how to proceed from anguish ;
but you need not be under any alarm for me. Thank
Heaven ! the sorrows that I have gone through
enable me to bear this ; and we all endeavour to bear
it as well as possible for each other's sakes, which is
what he, the noble-minded being, would have wished.
Would to God I could see him — his spirit — sitting this
moment by the table. I think it would no more
frighten me than the sight of my baby, — whom I kiss
and wonder why he has not gone with him.
He was returning to Lerici by sea with his friend
Captain Williams, who is said also to have been a most
amiable man, and appeared so. It was on the 8th a
storm arose ; and it is supposed the boat must have
foundered not far from home. The bodies were thrown
up some days after. Dear S. had retained a book in
his pocket, which he told me he would not part with
till he saw me again, — Keats's last publication. He
1 From Leigh Hunt's Correspondence ', vol. i. p. 189.
545 2M
Shelley in England
borrowed it to read as he went. It will be buried with
him : that is to say, it is so already, on the sea-shore ;
but if he is taken up to be buried elsewhere, it shall
go with him. Mr. Williams, too, left a wife, who was
passionately fond of him. Conceive the terrible state
in which the women are ; — but none of us I trust have
known Shelley for nothing : the Williams doted on
him ; and — I know what to say ; but rely upon me,
I fear nothing. I am cooler in general than while
writing this, and besides the patience to which I have
been accustomed, 1 must work hard for our new pub-
lication, which will still go on. Lord B. is very kind.
Pray, show or send Hogg this letter for him to see ;
and tell him I would have written him a separate one,
but at present I am sure he will spare it me. I had
already begun to enliven Shelley's hours with accounts
of his pleasant sayings, and hoped to — but, good God !
how are one's most confident expectations cut short !
I embrace him as my friend and Shelley's.
Adieu, dearest Bessy, you will not wonder that I
do not make this letter an answer to your last, which
I was delighted to receive. It showed me you were
well, and Henry out of danger.
Pray, send the following to my brother for the
Examiner.
Your ever most affectionate friend,
LEIGH HUNT.
The news was soon abroad. Whit ton knew of it on
August 3rd ; Godwin heard of it a day later, and on
August 6th he wrote to Mary : "I heard only two
days ago the most afflicting intelligence to you, and
in some measure to all of us, that can be imagined —
54°
The Paradise of Exiles
the death of Shelley on the 8th ultimo. I have had
no direct information, the news only comes in a letter
from Leigh Hunt to Miss Kent, and, therefore, were it
not for the consideration of the writer, I should be
authorised to disbelieve it. That you should be so
overcome as not to be able to write is perhaps only
too natural ; but that Jane [Clare] could not write
one line I could never have believed." 1
It is noticeable that Godwin abstained from ex-
pressing any personal regret at Shelley's death. He
had no word to say of the man who, in order to
assist him, had impaired his fortune. Godwin, who
did not understand his son-in-law, and set little
value on his poetry, is said to have once remarked,
on the evidence of Charles Clairmont, after seeing him
in the street, " that Shelley was so beautiful, it is a
pity he was so wicked " ; and Mary wrote to Mrs
Gisborne some years later : " Papa loves not the
memory of Shelley, because he feels that he injured
him."
Apparently the earliest public announcement of
Shelley's death was Leigh Hunt's contribution to
the Examiner (given below), which appeared on
August 4, 1822, the thirtieth anniversary of the poet's
birth. The notice was quoted on August 5th in the
1 Life and Letters of Mary W. Shelley, by Mrs. Julian Marshall, vol.
p. 6.
547
Shelley in England
Morning Chronicle, and perhaps other newspapers
also copied it.
" Those who know a great mind when they meet
with it, and who have been delighted with the noble
things in the works of Mr. Shelley, will be shocked to
hear that he has been cut off in the prime of his life
and genius. He perished at sea, in a storm, with his
friend Captain Williams, of the Fusiliers, on the even-
ing of the 8th ult., somewhere off Via Reggio, on the
coast of Italy, between Leghorn and the Gulf of
Spezzia. He- had been to Pisa to do a kind action, and
he was returning to his country abode at Lerici to
do another. Such was the whole course of his life.
Let those who have known such hearts and have lost
them, judge of the grief of his friends. Both he and
Captain Williams have left wives and children. Cap-
tain Williams was also in the prime of life and a most
amiable man, beloved like his friend. The greatest
thing we can say in honour of his memory (and we
are sure he would think so), is, that he was worthy
to live with his friend and to die with him. — Vale,
dilectissime hominum ! Vale dilectissime ; et nos
ama, ut dixisti, in sepulchro."
As stated before, Whitton knew of Shelley's death
on August 3rd, for on that date he communicated the
news to Sir Timothy, and he wrote again on the same
subject on August 5th, having no doubt in the mean-
548
The Paradise of Exiles
time seen the Examiner notice. The lawyer's letters
are not forthcoming,1 but Sir Timothy's reply which
follows shows more anxiety for his younger son John's
future career than for the loss of his elder son.
Sir Timothy Shelley to William Whitton
FIELD PLACE,
Aug. 6, 1822.
MY DEAR SIR, — The Sting of Death has its effects.
God's will be done ! Tho' we have it from the Public
Papers only at present, such catastrophies are apt to
be too true.
In regard to the enquiries you mention, I leave to
you. John at present requires a steady young man
as his Tutor, where, if He could be found to form a
Friendship with Instruction, and masters for em-
ployment.
I was most perfectly satisfied with Mr. Warnford,
but the Clergyman of the Parish form'd a Friendship
for John and I fear has not been that Friend that
could be wished, His prospects being held up to him
that do not accord with my wishes. Could I beg of
you to write to me that John might see the letter that
this unforeseen event has. chang'd the face of circum-
stances in my family, that he must think of something
in order to better his condition in Life.
It is wonderful what artful men there are in the
world, and those whom you may consider Friends
confidentially are grounding the mischief of youth.
May I once more request to hear from you upon
the above subject, it wd. be of Service at this period
1 Mr. Whitton's letter-book for this period is missing.
549
Shelley in England
of Time. Lady Shelley and my Family offer their
best Compts.
Believe me, My dear Sir,
Yrs. most Faithfully,
T. SHELLEY.
I open'd the letter that I omitted to mention I had
form'd the intention of sending John to a Gentleman
at Sutton Coldfield, Nr. Birmingham, and was abt.
to take him, He takes 4 only, but we see Private Tutors
cannot keep youth in order where there are others.
I must find some person if possible, whatever I do
about this gentleman. He is highly spoken of by a
friend of mine.
With Sir Timothy's next communication to Whitton
(August 8th) he sent him two letters. One was from
Shelley's friend T. L. Peacock, and the co-executor
with Byron of the poet's will, giving Sir Timothy the
first personal intimation of his son's death, to which
he seems to have been quite prepared to resign him-
self, although he displayed some concern for his suit
of mourning. The other letter was from Mr. Holste,
who wrote on behalf of the representatives of the late
Miss Kitchener. Sir Timothy concluded that Holste
had written to him after having seen a public an-
nouncement of the poet's death.
Sir Timothy Shelley to W. Whitton
FIELD PLACE,
Aug. 8, 1822.
DEAR SIR, — I have given up my intention going
to London at present, not having my mourning, and
550
The Paradise of Exiles
the etiquette here not to appear in Public, except in
case of necessity until we have been to Church : and
under the peculiar circumstances the general accepta-
tion of the world may be set at rest in regard to the
Family.
I have therefore enclos'd you the letters. I have
no knowledge of either of the Gentlemen.
I have not written even to Mr. Peacock. I men-
tion'd before, if it seem'd right to give him a line to
thank him for the communication being the only
information, but thro' the Public Papers.
The other Gentleman must have seen the account,
tho' he does not give any hint of it, but after so long
a period writes to me.
This Miss Kitchener was a School Mistress and after
Bysshe was married, went to see them. He knew
her first at Cuckfield, when he was at Captn. Pilfold's
before he married.
I have no doubt but you will find both the marriages
correct. He was particular in that respect — I sup-
pose there will require some arrangement when
matters are understood.
To lose an eldest son in his life time and the un-
fortunate manner of his losing that life, is truely melan-
choly to think of, but as it has pleas'd the Great Author
of our Being so to dispose of him I must make up my
mind with resignation.
Believe me yrs. most truly and faithfully,
T. SHELLEY.
[Addressed]
WM. WHITTON, Esq.,
No. 3, King's Road,
Bedford Row, London.
551
Shelley in England
T. L. Peacock to Sir Timothy Shelley
EAST INDIA HOUSE,
Aug. 6, 1822.
SIR, — I am sorry to be the medium of conveying
to you the afflicting intelligence which I have this day
received in a letter from a friend of Mrs. Shelley in
Italy, in which country your son has resided during
the last four years. In that letter I am requested to
communicate to you the melancholy tidings of his
having perished at sea, in a storm, while proceeding
along the coast in an open boat from Pisa to Lerici.
He had not insured his life, and his widow and her
infant son are left without any provision.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
T. L. PEACOCK.
To SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY.
H. Holste to Sir Timothy Shelley
LONDON, Aug. 6, 1822.
22, BUSH LANE.
SIR, — I hope you will excuse the liberty I take in
addressing you respecting a Debt owing by your Son
Mr. Percy B. Shelley to the Estate of the late Miss
Kitchener of Edmonton. I am the Executor and
have written to Mr. Shelley at Pisa, where I am in-
formed he is at present residing, but have not received
any answer.
The Debt amounts to £100, which Miss Kitchener
lent him in June 1812 and which he has subsequently
engaged to repay.
The documents relating thereto are in my posses-
sion, and also many letters from him and his family.
552
The Paradise of Exiles
I make this humble appeal to you, on behalf of the
Creditors and under the conviction that you would
be so kind to settle this trifle, and should you wish
to have the documents inspected by any one here in
Town I shall with pleasure lay them before such a
person as you may be pleased to appoint ; and in the
hope of a favorable reply,
I remain most respectfully,
Sir,
Your most obd. and humble Servt.,
H. HOLSTE.
To SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY, Bart.,
etc., etc., etc.,
Horsham .
There is no mention of a loan from Miss Kitchener
to Shelley in his correspondence with her during June
1812. In his letter, however, of June nth, he asked
Miss Kitchener if she had enough money for her journey
to Wales, where she had decided to visit him and his
wife, and if she had not, he said that he would remit
some as soon as an amount of £50, then due to him,
should arrive. One other reference to money, in
Shelley's letters to Miss Kitchener at this time, is
contained in his letter to her of June i8th. He con-
templated taking a cottage, recommended by Godwin,
at Chepstow, and he proposed to journey there with
his wife and sister-in-law, Eliza, who was to remain
at the cottage while Shelley and Harriet travelled
across the country to Sussex, where they proposed to
553
Shelley in England
pick up Miss Kitchener and to take her back with
them. Shelley calculated that on arriving at Chep-
stow a sum of £13 would remain to him, with which
he would defray the journey to Hurst. But for the
expenses of their return to Chepstow — as Shelley said,
" We shall be penniless " — he would depend upon Miss
Kitchener's exertions with a certain Mr. Howell. The
journey to Chepstow was not undertaken, but it is
just possible that Miss Kitchener may have sent him
the £100 to which Holste referred, although the
amount may have been one year's instalment of the
allowance mentioned below.
Miss Kitchener did not join the Shelleys until
after July I4th, on which date she visited the
Godwins on her journey through London to Lyn-
mouth, where they had moved in the meantime. She
left the Shelleys' household about November 8, 1812,
and Harriet, in writing from Stratford-on-Avon to
Catherine Nugent on November I4th, said : "It was
a long time ere we could possibly get her [Miss
Kitchener] away, till at last Percy said he would give
her £100 per annum. And now, thank God, she has
left us never more to return." Shelley wrote to Hogg
on December 3, 1812 : " The Brown Demon, as we
call our late tormentor and schoolmistress, must re-
ceive her stipend . . . certainly she is embarrassed
and poor. ..."
554
The Paradise of Exiles
After her departure from the Shelleys' Miss Kitchener
returned to Sussex, where the " Newspaper Editor,"
who contributed his reminiscences of Shelley to
Fraser's Magazine, " saw her at the house of her
father, sitting alone with one of Shelley's works before
her. Her fine black eye lighted up, her well-formed
Roman countenance was full of animation, when I
spoke of Shelley." Medwin spoke of her as "an
esprit fort, ceruleanly blue," who " fancied herself a
poetess. I only know of one anecdote," he said,
" which Shelley used to relate, laughing till the tears
ran down his cheeks. She perpetrated an ode, proving
that she was a great stickler for the rights of her sex,
the first line of which ran thus :
" * All, all are men — women and all ! ' "
Mr. T. J. Wise tells me that Mr. Henry James Slack
gave him the following information concerning Miss
Hitchener from his personal knowledge. He said that
she subsequently became governess to the children
of a gentleman who held some official position, probably
in the diplomatic service, and she accompanied his
family to the Continent. Before she left England,
however, she deposited with Mr. Slack, Shelley's letters
to her, together with transcripts of some of hers to
Shelley, and that these papers were never reclaimed.
While abroad Miss Hitchener made the acquaintance,
555
Shelley in England
and afterwards married, an officer in the Austrian
service, but she parted from him soon after, and, re-
turning to England, assumed her maiden name. She
then appears to have gone to Edmonton, where, with
the aid of her sisters, she kept a school and earned the
esteem of her pupils. She left no will, but from a
search made at Somerset House it appears that on
the 8th March 1822, Letters of Administration of the
goods, chattels, and credits of Elizabeth Kitchener,
late of Edmonton in the county of Middlesex, Spinster,
deceased, were granted to Thomas Kitchener, her
natural and lawful father. The estate was sworn at
£450 ; the date of her death is not mentioned.
As some misstatements have been made with regard
to Mr. Slack, it may be as well to say that he was
at one time editor of the Intellectual Observer, the
" Little John " of the Weekly Times, author of Marvels
of Pond Life, The Philosophy of Progress, and other
books. He died June 16, 1896, and is described in
his will as barrister-at-law.
Miss Kitchener's maiden name appears on the title-
page of a poem in blank verse entitled The Weald of
Sussex, which bears the date of 1822. Another volume
from her pen, The Fireside Bagatelle, containing enigmas
of the chief towns of England and Wales, had been
previously published in 1818. If the correspondence
of Shelley with Miss Kitchener, to which Mr. Holste
556
The Paradise of Exiles
referred, was the same as that in Mr. Slack's hands,
or which came into his keeping afterwards, the letters
acknowledging the debt are not forthcoming. Some
forty years later Mr. Slack showed the letters to Mr.
W. M. Rossetti, who was the first to examine and
transcribe them.1
Among the few contemporary statements of Shelley's
death, the following appeared in the Gentleman's
Magazine for September 1822. It was evidently
written by someone better acquainted with the facts
of the poet's death than with his work and aims.
"PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, ESQ.
"July 8th. — Supposed to have perished at sea in a
Storm somewhere off Via Reggio on the coast of Italy
between Leghorn and the Gulf of Spezzia, Percy
Bysshe Shelley, Esq.
" He went out a sailing in a little schooner in company
with his friend Captain Williams son of Captain John
1 Mr. D. F. MacCarthy, in his Early Life of Shelley, 1872, made
considerable use of these letters, but they were first printed fully for
private circulation in 1890 by Mr. T. J. Wise, and were published later,
in 1908, by the late Mr. Bertram Dobell with an interesting introduction.
The letters were afterwards included in the present writer's edition of
Shelley's correspondence, 1909, after collation with the originals, which
made it possible to restore some passages hitherto unprinted. On the
death of Mr. Slack, the Shelley-Hitchener letters came into the hands of
his widow, who bequeathed them to the Rev. Charles Hargrove, the
husband of her niece, with the request that he should leave the letters
to the British Museum. Mr. Hargrove did not keep the manuscripts long
in his possession, but generously presented them to the Museum in 1907.
557
Shelley in England
Williams of the Hon. East India Company Bengal
Infantry and lately exchanged from the 8th Dragoons
to the 2ist Fusiliers. He had been to Pisa and was
returning to his country abode at Lerici. The boat
has since been found capsized. Mr. Shelley was the
eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, Bart., M.A. of Uni-
versity College Oxford of which Society his son was
for a short time a member. He married a daughter
of Mr. Godwin by the celebrated Mary Wolstonecraft
and was an intimate friend of Lord Byron and Mr.
Leigh Hunt. The wives of Mr. Shelley and Mr. Wil-
liams were both at Leghorn overwhelmed with grief.
" Mr. Shelley is unfortunately too well known for his
infamous novels and poems. He openly professed
himself an Atheist. His works bear the following
titles : — Prometheus chained, Alastor or the spirit of
Solitude, and other poems 1816, Queen Mob, Cenci.
It has been stated that Mr. Shelley had gone to Pisa
to establish a periodical work with the assistance of
Lord Byron and Mr. Leigh Hunt."
This reference to the memory of England's greatest
lyrical poet is mild compared with what followed in
this periodical, which claimed to represent the inter-
ests of gentlemen and to voice their views. Shortly
after the appearance of the obituary notice quoted
above, the editor of the Gentleman's Magazine seized
an opportunity of assailing Shelley's memory in re-
viewing an Elegy on his death by John Chalk Claris,
a great admirer of the poet, who wrote under the
pen-name of " Arthur Brooke/'
558
The Paradise of Exiles
" Mr. Brooke, an enthusiastic young man who has
written some good but licentious verses, has here got up
a collection of stanzas for the ostensible purpose ' of
commemorating the talents and virtues of that highly
gifted individual Percy Bysshe Shelley ' (Preface).
" Concerning the talents of Mr. Shelley we know no
more than that he published certain convulsive caper-
ings of Pegasus labouring under cholic pains ; namely
some purely fantastic verses in the bubble bubble toil
and trouble style, and as to Mr. Shelley's virtues, if
he belonged (as we understand he did) to a junta,
whose writings tend to make our sons profligates, and
our daughters strumpets, we ought as justly to regret
the decease of the Devil (if that were possible) as of
one of his coadjutors.
" Seriously speaking however we feel no pleasure in
the untimely death of this Tyro of the Juan school,
that pre-eminent academy of Infidels Blasphemers
Seducers and Wantons. We had much rather have
heard that he and the rest of the fraternity had been
consigned to the Monastery of La Trappe for correc-
tion of their dangerous principles and expurgation of
their corrupt minds.
" Percy Bysshe Shelley is a fitter subject for the
penitentiary dying speech than a lauding elegy, for
a muse of the rope rather than that of the cypress ;
the muse that advises us ' warning to take by others'
harm and we shall do well.' '
If these, and other abusive articles on the poet, were
not responsible for Sir Timothy's unfriendliness to
Mary Shelley and her little boy, they no doubt helped
to embitter him.
559
Shelley in England
But to return to Italy. About July 20th, im-
mediately the fate of Shelley and Williams was known,
Mary, Jane Williams, and Clare were taken by Tre-
lawny to the Hunts' at Pisa, and there they remained
during the early days of their mourning. Trelawny
was unceasing in his efforts to help and comfort them,
and Leigh Hunt and his wife also were ever ready with
their sympathy and kind attentions. Shelley's widow
and the Hunts having agreed to settle together at Genoa
for several months, Mary set out from Pisa with Jane
Williams for that place, towards the middle of Sep-
tember, in order to seek for a suitable house. She had
promised at the same time to find a house for Byron,
and she took for him the Casa Saluzzo at Albaro, near
Genoa, and the Casa Negroto close by for the Hunts
and herself. Clare had previously left Pisa for Vienna
to join her brother Charles, and Mrs. Williams did
not remain long at Genoa ; she left for London on
September lyth. Consequently Mary remained with
her boy at the Hunts', intending also to return to
England, but realised that, when she was able to
do so, she could not reasonably be a burden on her
father.
Mary cherished hopes that Sir Timothy would help
her for the sake of her boy, but, as she wrote on
September iyth to Mrs. Gisborne, " when my crowns
are gone, if Sir Timothy refuses, I hope to be able
560
The Paradise of Exiles
to support myself by my writings and mine own
Shelley's MSS."
Byron, who at length arrived at Genoa, had been very
kind to Mary at Pisa, where he had visited her from
week to week. When she saw him again, for two hours,
after an absence of a month, the sound of his voice
awakened melancholy thoughts of days that were gone.
It carried her memory back to the visit at Geneva in
1816, where, at the Villa Diodati, she had listened to
long conversations between him and Shelley ; and now,
when she heard Byron speak, she listened, as it were,
in expectation of hearing the other voice that was for
ever silenced.
Byron's character was a strange mixture of generosity
and meanness. He had behaved generously to Leigh
Hunt in his capacity as Editor of the Liberal, as well
as to John Hunt the printer of that ill-fated magazine,
by making to it several notable contributions. It
is true that he expected to obtain profit by the
venture, but having given it his support, though he
soon had misgivings as to its chances of success, he
did not hesitate to carry out his promise liberally.
Moreover, after a coolness with Murray, Byron en-
trusted to John Hunt the publication of Don Juan
from Canto VI. to the end, and Hunt henceforth
published anything that came from the pen of the
poet, who found him " a sensible, plain, sturdy, en-
561 2 N
Shelley in England
during person." l Byron sympathised with Mary ;
as the friend of Shelley, whose death he sincerely
lamented, and as one of the executors of the poet's
will, he was anxious to help her. He therefore wrote
to his solicitor, John Hanson, saying that he had de-
sired Godwin to see him with regard to Shelley's
affairs, and that he wished Hanson to apply to Whitton
on behalf of Mrs. Shelley to ascertain if any provision
had been made for her and her son. Byron added that
he presumed that the last quarter of the allowance,
due on September ist, would be paid, and he desired
Hanson's opinion of Shelley's will, and his advice as to
what had best be done in the circumstances. Hanson
accordingly wrote to Whitton asking for an interview.
Whitton, however, who, according to entries in his
diary, replied to Hanson on November 22nd, and wrote
again to him on the 27th, on December iyth declined
to see him, and Hanson then made his application
by letter as Whitton had requested. Mary wrote to
Clare on December 2oth at this stage of the negotiations,
" This does not look like an absolute refusal, but Sir
Timothy is so capricious that we cannot trust to
appearances." 2 On December i8th Sir Timothy had
a consultation about Hanson's letters and Harriet's
children with Whitton, who gave his advice and re-
1 Byron to Moore, April 2, 1823 ; Prothero, vol. vi. 183.
1 Life and Letters of Mary W. Shelley, by Mrs. Julian Marshall, vol. ii.
p. 55-
562
The Paradise of Exiles
ceived Sir Timothy's instructions, which he communi-
cated two days later to Hanson. The decision was
apparently unfavourable to Mary's application, as
Byron resolved to plead her cause himself, and ad-
dressed a letter to Sir Timothy Shelley. It was one
of Byron's generous acts, and the letter is an inter-
esting one for the tribute which it contains to his lost
friend. The letter does not appear to have been
printed before, and is from a copy among the Shelley-
Whitton papers.
Lord Byron to Sir Timothy Shelley
GENOA,
Jan. 7, 1823.
SIR, — 1 trust that the only motive of this letter will
be sufficient apology, even from a stranger — I had
the honor of being the friend of the late Percy B.
Shelley, and am still actuated by the same regard for
his memory and the welfare of his family — to which
I beg leave to add my respect for yourself and his
connections. My Solicitor lately made an application
to Mr. Whitton a gentleman in your confidence, in
favor of Mr. Shelley's Widow and child by his second
marriage both being left by his untimely death entirely
destitute.
My intimacy with your late son and the circum-
stances to me unknown 'till after his decease — of my
being named one of the Executors in a will which he
left but which is of no avail at present — and may
perhaps be always unavailable — seemed to justify this
intrusion through a third person. I was unwilling to
563
Shelley in England
trouble you personally, for the subject is very painful
to my feelings and must be still more so to yours —
I must now, however, respectfully submit to you, the
totally destitute state of your daughter-in-law and her
child, and I would venture to add — that neither are
unworthy your protection. Their wishes are by no
means extravagant, a simple provision to prevent
them from absolute want now staring them in the face
is all that they seek — and where can they look for it
with propriety — or accept it without bitterness — •
except from yourself ?
I am not sufficiently aware of Mr. Shelley's family
affairs to know on what terms he stood with his family,
nor if I were so should I presume to address you on
that subject. But he is in his grave — he was your
Son — and whatever his errors and opinions may have
been — they were redeemed by many good and noble
qualities.
Might I hope, Sir, that by casting an eye of kindness
on his relict and her boy it would be a comfort to them
— it would one day be a comfort to yourself, for if
ever he had been so unfortunate as to offend you,
they are innocent ; but I will not urge the topic further
and am far more willing to trust to your own feelings
and judgment, than to any appeal which may be made
to them by others.
Mrs. Shelley is for the present residing near Genoa—
indeed she has not the means of taking a journey to
England — nor of remaining where she is without some
assistance. That this should be derived from other
sources than your protection, would be humiliating
to you and to her — but she has still hopes from your
kindness — let me add from your Justice to her and to
your Grandchild.
564
The Paradise of Exiles
1 beg leave to renew my apology for intruding upon
you, which nothing but the necessity of so doing would
have induced, and have the honor to be,
Your most obedient,
Very humble Servant,
NOEL BYRON.
To SIR T. SHELLEY, Bart.,
etc., etc.
Sir Timothy sent Byron's letter to Whitton, with an
intimation that he thought of allowing Mary a sum
of £160 a year.1 Whitton considered this proposal,
wrote several letters to his client, and, finally, had a
consultation with Sir Timothy, on February 4th, after
he had received from John Hanson certificates of the
marriage of Shelley with Mary Godwin and of the
baptism of their son Percy Florence. The result of
this conference was that Whitton prepared for Sir
Timothy a reply to Byron's letter, in the light of a
short abstract of the poet's will supplied by Hanson
on February 4th, which letter he carefully read over
to the baronet on the following day. Mrs. Marshall
printed Sir Timothy's reply in her Life of Mary Shelley,
but the following is given from the draft among the
Shelley-Whitton papers, which bears some alterations
in Whitton's handwriting, though the two copies are
practically identical.
1 Whitton's diary, January 29, 1823.
565
Shelley in England
Sir Timothy Shelley to Lord Byron
FIELD PLACE,
Feb. 6, 1823.
MY LORD, — I have received your Lordship's letter,
and my Solicitor Mr. Whitton has this day shewn to
me copies oi certificates of the marriage of Mrs. Shelley
and of the baptism of her little boy and also a short
Abstract of my son's Will as the same have been
handed to him by Mr. Hanson.
The mind of my son was withdrawn from me and
my immediate family by unworthy and interested
individuals when he was about nineteen, and after a
while he was led into a new Society and forsook his
first associates. In this new Society he forgot every
feeling of duty and respect to me and to Lady Shelley.
Mrs. Shelley was, I have been told, the intimate friend
of my son in the lifetime of his first wife and to the
time of her death, and in no small degree as I suspect
estranged my son's mind from his family and all his
first duties in life. With that impression on my mind
I cannot agree with your Lordship that tho' my son
was most unfortunate that Mrs. Shelley is innocent —
on the contrary I think that her conduct was the
very reverse of what it ought to have been and I must
therefore decline all interference in matters in which
Mrs. Shelley is interested. As to the child I am in-
clined to afford the means of a suitable protection and
care of him in this country : if he shall be placed
with a person I shall approve.
But your Lordship will allow me to say that the
means I can furnish will be limited as I have important
duties to perform towards others which I cannot for-
get— I have thus plainly told your Lordship my de-
566
The Paradise of Exiles
termination in the hope that I may be spared from all
further correspondence on a subject so distressing to
me and my family.
With respect to the Will and certificates I have no
observations to make. I have left them with Mr.
Whitton, and if anything is necessary to be done with
them on my part he will I am sure do it.
I have the Honor, my Lord, to be your Lordship's
most obedient humble servant,
T. SHELLEY.
While Mary was waiting to hear the result of Byron's
application to Sir Timothy she received a letter from
her faithful and trusty friend Trelawny. He wrote :
" There is not one now living has so tender a friend-
ship for you as I have. I have the far greater
claims on you, and I shall consider it as a breach of
friendship should you employ any one else in services
that I can execute.
"' My purse, my person, my extremest means
Lye all unlocked to your occasion.'
I hope you know my heart so well as to make all
professions needless."
Mary was touched by this expression of friendship,
which subsequently on Trelawny's part developed into
something warmer, and she wrote in reply, on January
20th, that she believed he was the best friend she had,
and that most truly would she rather apply to him
than to anyone else. But she considered for the
567
Shelley in England
present she was well off, having received £33 from the
Liberal, besides still possessing a considerable residue
of the money that she had brought from Pisa. She
had enough to spare some for Clare. She added :
" Lord Byron continues kind : he has made frequent
offers of money. I do not want it as you see."
Mary was naturally indignant at the proposal of
her father-in-law, whose letter plainly showed, she
said, in writing to Byron, by what mean principles
Sir Timothy would be actuated in not offering her
little boy " an asylum in his own house, but a beggarly
provision under the care of a stranger. " She declared
that, separated from the child, she should not survive
ten days, though the sacrifice would be easy if it were
necessary to die for his benefit. But the child was
delicate, and required all his mother's love and solici-
tude, and she would never -consent to part with him.
Godwin, who saw a copy of Sir Timothy's letter, con-
sidered that there was no need for him to counsel her
to reject her father-in-law's proposition. It was a
bitter blow to her expectations, and she soon realised
that, stranded as she was in a foreign country without
resources, it was expedient that she should return to
England with as little delay as possible. Mary made
her preparations, and on June gth she told Byron that
she was ready to depart, and he promised to provide
her with money and to make himself the necessary
568
The Paradise of Exiles
arrangements for the journey ; but he kept her wait-
ing, and then chose to transact the negotiations through
Leigh Hunt. Mary related these details to Jane
Williams in a letter dated July 1823, an(i sa<id that
Byron " gave such an air of unwillingness and sense
of the obligation he conferred, as at last provoked
Hunt to say that there was no obligation, since he
owed me £1000." She added that while Byron was
" still keeping up an appearance of amity with Hunt,
he had written notes and letters so full of contempt
against me and my lost Shelley that I could stand it no
longer, and have refused to receive his still proffered
aid for my journey." Mary, who was an inexperi-
enced girl, not twenty-four when she was widowed,
being unaccustomed to decide for herself, had out-
worn Byron's patience by the incertitude of her plans.
Perhaps he was vexed when she showed some irrita-
tion at the failure of Byron's appeal to Sir Timothy ;
at any rate he was out of humour with her, and he
did not disguise it in the letter which follows.
Lord Byron to Leigh Hunt
June 28, 1823.
DEAR H., — I have received a note from Mrs. S.
with a fifth or sixth change of plan, viz. not to make
her journey at all, at least through my assistance on
account of what she is pleased to call " estrangement,
etc." On this I have little to say. The readiest
mode now may be this, which can be settled between
569
Shelley in England
you and me without her knowing anything of the
matter.
I will advance the money to you (I desired Mr.
Kprkup] * to say what would enable her to travel
" handsomely and conveniently in all respects " these
were the words of my note this afternoon to him) on
Monday — you can then say that you have raised it
as a loan on your own account — no matter with whom
or how — and that you advance it to her — which may
easily be made the fact if you feel scrupulous by giving
me a scrap of paper as your note of hand — thus she will
be spared any fancied humiliation. I am not aware
of anything in the transaction which can render it
obnoxious to yourself — at least I am sure that there
is no such intention on my part — nor ever was in
anything which had passed between us — although
there are circumstances so plausible — and scoundrels
so ready in every corner of the earth to give a colour
of their own to everything — the last observation is
dictated by what you told me to-day to my utter
astonishment — it will however teach me to know
my company better or not at all.
And now pray — do not apply or misapply directly
or indirectly to yourself any of these observations.
I knew you long before Mr. S. knew either you or
me — and you and two more of his friends are the
only ones whom I can at all reflect upon as men whose
acquaintance was honourable and agreeable. I have
1 Seymour Kirkup was among those present at Shelley's funeral, on
January 21, 1823, when his ashes were laid in the Protestant Cemetery at
Rome. He was a friend of Trelawny, who described him as "an artist of
superior taste," and he drew his portrait, which will be found in the
Recollections of Shelley and Byron, 1858. Kirkup seems to have spent
the best part of his life in Florence, where he was living in 1870, at the
age of 82. See Trelawny's Letters, edited by Mr. H. Buxton Forman.
,570
The Paradise of Exiles
one more thing to state — which is that from this mo-
ment I must decline the office of acting as his executor
in any respect, and also all further connection with
his family in any of its branches — now or hereafter.
There was something about a legacy of two thousand
pounds — which he had left me — this of course I decline
and the more so that I hear — that his will is admitted
valid : and I state this distinctly — that in case of
anything happening to me — my heirs may be instructed
not to claim it.
Yours ever and truly, N. B.
P.S. — I enclose you Mr. K/s answer just received
to my note of this afternoon.
On July 23rd, two days before Mary quitted Genoa
for England, she wrote to Mrs. Williams that Lord
Byron, Trelawny, and Pierino Gambo had sailed for
Greece on July 17 th. She did not see Byron before
he left. " His unconquerable avarice," she said,
" prevented his supplying me with money, and a
remnant of shame caused him to avoid me. ... If
he were mean, Trelawny more than balanced the
moral account. His whole conduct during his last
stay here has impressed us all with an affectionate
regard, and a perfect faith in the unalterable goodness
of his heart. They sailed together ; Lord Byron with
£10,000, Trelawny with £50, and Lord Byron cowering
before his eye for reasons you shall hear soon." Poor
as Trelawfiy was, he willingly lent Mary a sum to help
her to defray the expenses of her homeward journey.
571
CHAPTER XVIII
CONCLUSION
Mary's return to London — Frankenstein on the stage — Mary and
Sir Timothy — Shelley's Posthumous Poems — Their suppression —
Mary's allowance — John Shelley's marriage — Mary's negotiations
with Sir Timothy — Her visit to Paris — Her illness — Percy Florence
Shelley and his grandfather — False rumours of Mary's marriage —
Trelawny's suit rejected — Mary's Wednesday evenings — Death of
William Godwin the younger — Godwin's death — His will — Percy
at Harrow — And at Cambridge — Shelley's collected Poems and
Essays — Mary and her son on the Continent — Mary's death —
Characteristics of Sir Percy Shelley — His death.
THERE was nothing now to detain Mary in Italy ;
indeed it was expedient that she should return to
England and endeavour to obtain from Sir Timothy an
allowance for herself and Percy. On August 25, 1823,
she was in London under the roof of her father's house
in the Strand, and on the 2gth Godwin took her, with
her step-brother William, and Mrs. Williams, to the
English Opera House to witness a dramatic performance
of her novel Frankenstein. Godwin had been prompted,
by the appearance of this play, to get published for
Mary's benefit a new edition1 of her novel, as he
1 Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, by Mary Wollstonecraft
Shelley. In two volumes, a new edition. London : Printed for G. & W.
B. Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane, 1823. The first edition of this book,
in three volumes, was published without the author's name, but it con-
tained a dedication to Godwin which was omitted from this reprint.
572
Conclusion
despaired of Sir Timothy doing anything for her.
She wrote, however, to her father-in-law and Lady
Shelley on her arrival in England, and Sir Timothy
sent the letter to Whit ton. The lawyer advised, in
a letter dated September ist, that Sir Timothy should
reply by referring Mary to his letter to Byron as con-
taining his explanation of all that he intended to do,
and that his feelings would not permit him to corre-
spond further on the subject. Whitton thought that
such a letter would quiet his client and induce Mary
to desist from further troubling him or Lady Shelley.
Sir Timothy, however, did not fall in with Whitton's
suggestion that he should answer Mary's letter, and
Whitton therefore wrote to her on September 3rd.
He told her that she was acquainted with Sir Timothy's
general sentiments, and that he did " not think it
proper to vary or alter that determination which he
has already stated." Whitton also informed Mary
that, when she had placed her son in that situation
which she considered desirable for him, if she would
send him particulars he would inquire of Sir Timothy
what proportion he would be prepared to pay of the
expenses." As Whitton was leaving town, he said that
he would see Mrs. Shelley that day.
Mary accordingly, accompanied by her father and
her little boy, called on Whitton, and, describing the
interview in a letter to Hunt, she said that the lawyer
573
Shelley in England
" was very polite though long-winded ; his great wish
seemed to be to prevent me from applying again jto
Sir Timothy, whom he represented as old, infirm and
irritable. However, he advanced me -£100 for my
immediate expenses, told me that he could not speak
positively until he had seen Sir T. Shelley, but he
doubted not that I should receive the same sum annu-
ally for my child, and with a little time and patience
I should get an allowance for myself/' Whitton
wrote a long letter to Sir Timothy, in which he gave
an account of the conversation that he had had with
Mary and her father, and he stated that he made the
advance to her as he realised that, as she was wholly
without money, and her father not being in a posi-
tion to assist her, without some present aid she could
not keep herself without great distress ; that he
thought Sir Timothy might allow a sum not very
short of £100 a year for the child, but that she was
not to look forward to support from that quarter.
Mary seems to have construed Whitton's remarks
otherwise ; she expected that her father-in-law would
make her an adequate provision. Peacock saw Whitton
on November 6th, and stated that Mrs. Shelley had
written to him saying that she expected an allowance
of £300 a year, to which statement Whitton declared
that it was Sir Timothy's intention not to allow her
sixpence beyond what was necessary for her child.
574
Conclusion
It was, however, arranged by Whitton, in an inter-
view with Peacock some three weeks later, that Mary
should receive an allowance of £100 a year from Sep-
tember ist preceding. But Mary, remembering her
conversation with Whitton, still hoped that this allow-
ance would be augmented, and after some months of
suspense she must have written to him on the subject,
in June 1824, as the lawyer replied to her on the I4th
of that month that it concerned him very much that
even his most guarded expressions should have pro-
duced a feeling of expectation on her part. He
pointed out to her that, as under her late husband's
will she had an important expectant interest in part
of the settled estates, she thus possessed a resource
beyond and independently of the allowance made by
Sir Timothy for Percy's maintenance. He thought
it right to refer her to the consideration of that sub-
ject, as she might thereby provide for herself all that
she now required. Peacock called on Whitton to ask
lor an explanation of that part of his letter to Mrs.
Shelley which referred her to her own means for
obtaining a support. Whitton gave him no encourage-
ment to expect that Sir Timothy would take a grant
from Mary of a part of her expectant right in considera-
tion of an annuity, but the lawyer agreed to ascertain,
in the circumstances, the value of an annuity of
£300 per annum during the joint lives. Mary Shelley
575
Shelley in England
was led by this inquiry to conclude that some satis-
factory arrangement would result, as she wrote to
Trelawny on July 28th : " My prospects are somewhat
brighter than they were. I have little doubt but that
in the course of a few months I shall have an inde-
pendent income of £300 to £400 per annum during
Sir Timothy's life, and that with small sacrifice
on my part. After his death Shelley's will secures
me an income more than sufficient for my simple
habits."
Soon after Shelley's death, when Mary was at Albaro,
she applied herself to the task of going over his manu-
scripts and transcribing them preparatory to issuing
a collection of his unpublished poems. When she was
nearing the completion of her task, she must have
experienced a difficulty in finding a publisher willing
to undertake to print the book at his own risk. The
Olliers, who had issued Shelley's poems at the author's
charges, had stated that " the sale, in every instance,
of Mr. Shelley's works has been very confined." The
original editions of his works were, at the time, a drug
in the market, and the London publishers showed no
eagerness to publish his Posthumous Poems. A plan
at length was found to induce John Hunt to issue the
book. The sale of 250 copies was guaranteed by three
admirers of Shelley's poetry — namely, Thomas Lovell
Beddoes ; Bryan Waller Procter, otherwise " Barry
576
Conclusion
Cornwall " ; and Thomas Forbes Kelsall — none of whom
appear to have known the poet personally. The pub-
lisher decided to print 500 copies of the volume, as
he said that a smaller number would not pay for
printing and advertisements, much less yield any
profit for Mrs. Shelley. A portrait was to have been
added as a frontispiece to the book, but Mrs. Williams
had mislaid a sketch of the poet, which Mary Shelley
had lent her, until it was too late to use it.1 It was
originally intended to include in the volume a selection
from Shelley's prose writings, including some letters
from Italy, besides his translation of the Symposium
and Ion of Plato, but Mary stated in her preface
to the book (dated June i, 1824) that the size of
the collection had prevented the insertion of any
prose pieces, which would appear in a separate
publication.2
1 See the Poems of T. L. Beddoes, 1851, edited by T. F. Kelsall,
Memoir, vol. i. p. xxiii. ; also The Letters of T. L. Beddoes, 1894, edited
by Edmund Gosse, p. I et seq., p. 264.
2 In an advertisement, dated December 1823, and printed at the end
of Don Juan, Cantos XII-XIV, 1823, of John Hunt's publications,
among " works preparing for publication " is the announcement :
"In one vol. 8vo. The Posthumous Works of the late Percy B.
Shelley, Esq. Containing : The Witch of Atlas ; Julian and Maddalo ;
Triumph of Life ; Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude. Translations : —
The Cyclop, a Silenic Drama from Eurypides [sic] ; Homer's Hymn to
Mercury ; The Symposium and Ion of Plato, &c. Letters from Italy ;
and smaller poems." In the next volume of Don Juan, Canto XV-XVI,
1824, the advertisement, dated March 1824, again appears among works
in preparation, but "Letters from Italy" and "The Symposium" are
omitted, and " From the Faust of Goethe" [sic] is added.
577 2 o
Shelley in England
The book on the whole was received favourably by
the reviewers, who were forced, though sometimes
unwillingly, to admit that it contained proofs of
Shelley's unmatched gift of song. The Quarterly,
Hazlitt in the Edinburgh, and " Christopher North "
in Black-wood,, were agreed in praising the book, but
the writer of a long review which appeared in the
number for August 1823 of that little known, but very
interesting, publication, Knight's Quarterly Magazine,
showed that he was well acquainted with Shelley's
poetry, from Queen Mob to Adonais, and had followed
the criticisms which had been meted out to it in the
past. He said :
"Amidst the crowd of feeble and tawdry writers
with which we are surrounded, tantalizing us with a
mere shew of power, and rendering their native bald-
ness more disgusting by the exaggerations and dis-
tortions with which they attempt to hide it, it is
refreshing to meet with a work upon which the genuine
mark of intellectual greatness is stamped. Here are
no misgivings, no chilling doubts, no reasoning with
ourselves as to the grounds of our temporary admira-
tion ; no comparison of canons, no reference to
criterions of beauty. We feel ourselves raised above
criticism, to that of which criticism is only the shadow ;
we perceive that it is from sources like these that
her rules, even where true, are exclusively derived,
servants that know not their master's will, — and we
feel that we have no need of them, when all that they
578
Conclusion
could teach presents itself to us by intuition. It is
a reviving feeling — a sense of deliverance and of
exaltation ; we are emancipated from the minute and
narrowing restraints to which an habitual intercourse
with petty prejudices almost insensibly subjects us ;
we breathe freely in the open air of enlarged thought ;
and we deem ourselves ennobled by our relation to a
superior mind, and by the sense of our own capabilities
which its grand conceptions awaken in us."
The writer then went on to examine the charges
that had been made against Shelley and his poetry.
" We are a review-and-newspaper-ridden people,"
he said, " and, while we contend clamorously for the
right of thinking for ourselves, we yet guide ourselves
unconsciously by the opinion of censors whom we know
to be partial and incompetent." The feeling against
Shelley was not merely because he had erred, but
because his errors were unpopular and he had never
attempted to disguise his opinions or to mask them
" under a decent guise of conformity." The article
concludes with several pages of extracts from the
poems, and is followed by a lively dialogue between
the contributors, at the anniversary gathering of the
magazine, on the merits of Shelley's poetry, on Mrs.
Shelley's Frankenstein, and her then recently published
novel Valperga. The author of the article disguised
his identity under the pseudonym of " Edward
Haselfoot," but the magazine counted among its
579
Shelley in England
contributors Macaulay, Praed, and Moultrie, and
it may have been written by one of the two last
named.
The volume of Shelley's Posthumous Poems had not
been long in circulation before Sir Timothy wrote to
Whitton about it. He had attempted during his
son's lifetime to restrain him from publishing his
works and had failed, but, now that Mary Shelley
was dependent on him for supplies, it was an easy
matter to threaten to stop her allowance unless she
at once withdrew the circulation of her husband's
poems. Whitton wrote to Sir Timothy, on July 24,
1824, that he had seen Mr. Peacock, and that he had
had a very long and particular conversation with him
on the subject of " the publications." Peacock re-
marked that he was ignorant of Mary's intention to
publish, and that had he known it he would have used
his endeavours to prevent it. He had heard that she,
or, rather, her father, was about to publish some prose
writings (apparently of Shelley's), and Whitton, who
intimated to him that such conduct had been very
offensive to Sir Timothy's feelings, conceived that the
baronet would regard " any further publication of the
writings as intended to annoy " him and his family.
Whereupon Peacock said that he would endeavour to
prevent it, and a few days later he again saw Whitton,
who wrote to Sir Timothy on August 5th as follows :
Conclusion
W. Whitton to Sir Timothy Shelley
3 KING'S ROAD,
Augt. 5, 1824.
DEAR SIR TIMOTHY, — The day after I had the
pleasure of seeing you I saw Mr. Peacock, and I com-
municated with him very fully as to the publication
of the Poetry and the proposed publication of the
prose parts of Mr. Shelley's writings, and having pointed
out to him how much such Publications pressed on
the feelings of yourself and your family, he ex-
pressed to me his great regret that the publication
had ever taken place, and that having seen Mrs. Shelley
she had authorised him to take any course he might
think proper to get in the copies of the Book then
under publication and his only difficulty was the
expense which had been incurred in the publication ;
and I therefore proposed to him that 1 would make
payment of the amount supposing the same did not
exceed £100. Mr. Peacock intimated to me that the
bargain for the publication had been that Mrs. Shelley
was to receive any profits that should arise beyond the
expenses of publication, and I had reason to under-
stand that 700 of the Books had been printed. This
morning Mr. Peacock again called on me and stated
that in consequence of what had previously passed
the Advertizements had ceased, that 500 only of the
Books had been printed, of which about 300 had been
sold, the price for which had cleared the expenses and
advertisements, that about 30 were in the hands of
Booksellers at Edinburgh and Dublin which he would
immediately cause to be recalled, and the remaining
170 he proposed to send to me ; there are about 7 in
the hands of Booksellers in different parts of the Town
581
Shelley in England
which we thought it would not be prudent to apply
for. Upon consideration I deemed it would be more
expedient, and I therefore stipulated with Mr. Peacock
that the 170 Volumes and the manuscript of the Work
as well as the Manuscript of the prose writings should
be placed in his hands as a more perfect means of
satisfaction to you and your family, and this he pro-
mised me should be immediately done. I was the
more desirous that Mr. Peacock should be charged
with the care of the printed Books and the two Manu-
scripts rather than the Books should be sent to me
and the manuscripts left in the hands of indifferent
persons. In this way I hope a continuance of annoy-
ance to you will be avoided. The check you sent
me dated the 17 of June, 1824, f°r £5° I did not use
in the way you pointed out for the benefit of Mrs.
Shelley, and I now return it to you cancelled. Mr.
Peacock stated to me that Mrs. Shelley had mis-
apprehended the arrangements as to the payments
to her, that she was greatly inconvenienced for the
want of money. I therefore paid her £50 for the ist
of Sept. by anticipation. When you have reflected
on the circumstances now communicated and con-
sidered the subject with Lady Shelley and your family
you will be pleased to let me know what you intend
doing. I mentioned to Mr. Peacock about the Edu-
cation of the little Boy, and he expressed his great
readiness to assist in inducing Mrs. Shelley to do
what may be right in the occasion, he agreeing with
me that a Godwin education must be altogether
avoided.
Yours Dr. Sir Timothy,
Very faithfully,
WILLIAM WHITTON.
582
Conclusion
Mrs. Shelley must have parted reluctantly with
Shelley's original manuscripts, but it was expedient
to comply with Sir Timothy's demands, and the
papers only passed into the custody of her friend
Peacock. Of what exactly the manuscripts comprised
does not appear from Peacock's letter that follows.
The translations from Plato remained unprinted till
the year 1840, when they appeared in Mary Shelley's
collection of Shelley's Essays and Letters from Abroad.
T. L. Peacock to W. Whitton
Aug. 18, 1824.
MY DEAR SIR, — I have received from Mrs. Shelley
the original MSS. which were to have composed the
prose volume.
There are two translations from Plato which she
cannot immediately procure from a person to whom
she had lent them, and who (if I recollect rightly,
having mislaid her note) is out of town.
She assures me that they shall not be printed, and
that they shall be sent to me as soon as she can obtain
them. I have also received the whole remaining im-
pression of the Posthumous Poems, 190 copies.
I remain, my dear Sir,
Very sincerely yours,
T. L. PEACOCK.
INDIA HOUSE,
Augt. 1 8, 1824.
Mary Shelley no doubt consented thus readily to the
suppression of the Posthumous Poems as the question
583
Shelley in England
was then pending whether Sir Timothy would advance
her a sum of money on her expectant interest under
her husband's will. She wrote accordingly to Leigh
Hunt on August 22nd :
"A negotiation has begun between Sir Timothy
Shelley and myself, by which, on sacrificing a small
part of my future expectations on the will, I shall
ensure myself a sufficiency for the present. ... I
have been obliged, however, as an indispensable pre-
liminary, to suppress the Posthumous Poems.1 More
than 300 copies had been sold, so this is the less pro-
1 The following is the account of the publishers, John and Henry Hunt,
for Shelley's Posthtunous Poems :
Dr.
£ s. d.
To Printing 500 copies . 90 1 1 6
,, 26| Reams of Paper
@ 30/6 . . . 40 15 ioi
, , Entering at Stationers'
Hall . . .030
,, Advertisements. . 24 13 9
, , ii copies to Stationers'
Hall® 10/6. . 5 15 6
,, 41 copies to Mrs.
Shelley @ 10/6 . 21 10 6
,, 10 copies to The
Press @ 10/6 . 550
,, 1 60 copies to Sir T.
Shelley (in sheets)
@ 10/6 . . . 80 o o
,, 31 copies to Sir T.
Shelley (in boards)
@ 10/6 . . .1656
, , Recalling from Country
Agents . . .162
,, Mrs. Shelley on ac-
count . . . 15 o o
,, Publishing . . 36 o o
£337 6 9£
Cr.
£, s. d.
By 500 copies Sheets (as
480 @ io/-) . . 240 o o
Balance carried forward . 97 6 9
;£337 6
To Balance brought forward, ^"97, 6s.
584
Conclusion
yoking, and I have been obliged to promise not to
bring dear Shelley's name before the public again
during Sir Timothy's life. There is no great harm in
this, since he is above seventy ; l and, from choice,
I should not think of writing memoirs now, and the
materials for a volume of more works are so scant
that I doubted before whether I could publish it.
Such is the folly of the world, and so do things seem
different from what they are ; since from Whitton's
account, Sir Timothy writhes under the fame of his
incomparable son, as if it were the most grievous injury
done to him ; and so, perhaps, after all it will prove.
All this was pending when I wrote last, but until I
was certain I did not think it worth while to mention
it. The affair is arranged by Peacock, who, though
I seldom see him, seems anxious to do me all these
kind of services in the best manner that he can."
Peacock was certainly vigilant, and he saw Whitton
on November 27th in regard to a letter that he had
received from Mary respecting her situation and want
of means. Whitton gave his advice as to her ability
to purchase an annuity for her life, and he promised
to furnish her with the necessary evidence if Sir
Timothy declined to take part in the transaction.2
Both Mrs. Shelley and Peacock saw Whitton several
times on the subject, and, as Sir Timothy finally de-
clined to take part in her proposed annuity, the lawyer
suggested that Peacock should lay the proposal before
1 Sir Timothy Shelley lived to the age of ninety-one.
2 From Whitton's Diary, November 27, 1824.
585
Shelley in England
some insurance company. Peacock acted on this
counsel, but the negotiation proved abortive.
Mary wrote to her friend, Miss Curran, on January
2, 1825, with regard to her affairs : " I have now better
prospects than I had, or rather, a better reality, for my
prospects are sufficiently misty. I receive now £200
from my Father-in-law, but this in so strange and em-
barrassed a manner that, as yet, I hardly know what to
make of it. I do not believe, however, that he would
object to my going abroad, as I daresay he considers
that the first step towards kingdom come, whither,
doubtless, he prays that an interloper like me may
speedily be removed." l
The prospect of remaining in London was daily
growing more distasteful to her. On April 8th she
wrote to Leigh Hunt : "I shall not live with my
father but return to Italy and economise the moment
God and Mr. Whitton will permit."
Any doubts, however, that Mary may have enter-
tained respecting her income were soon to be dispelled
by an unfortunate incident.
Mary had written a novel, during the last years of
Shelley's life, of which he entertained a high opinion,
1 Whitton noted in his Diary on December 26, 1824: " Writing letter
to Mrs. Shelley. Gave her cheque for ^50." It is not clear whether Sir
Timothy had actually entered into an arrangement with Mary to allow
her £200 a year, or whether she took this sum to represent a quarterly
instalment of a regular allowance.
586
Conclusion
and he attempted to find a publisher for it. The
book, with the title Valperga ; or, The Life and Adven-
tures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca, was issued during
the summer of 1823, shortly before Mary left Italy.
The publisher paid her for the manuscript a sum of
£400, which she generously gave to her father, who
had put the book into shape for publication. It was
now imperative that Mary should again employ her
pen to eke out her meagre income, and she wrote
another novel, The Last Man, which was published
early in the year 1826. This book, like its predecessor,
did not bear Mary's name on the title-page, but was
described as "by the author of Frankenstein." When
Sir Timothy induced Mary to suppress the Posthumous
Poems, under the threat of stopping supplies if she re-
fused, she hoped that, in recognition of her compliance
with his wishes, he would have considered the question
of raising money for her benefit. But it was his desire
that Shelley's memory might be forgotten, and he made
it a condition of continuing the allowance to Mary of
£100 per annum that she should not bring her hus-
band's name again before the public. Mary Shelley
was pretty widely known to be the author of Franken-
stein, although originally published anonymously, as
her father, in bringing out the new edition of that
romance, had put her name on the title-page. The
reviewers, therefore, of The Last Man freely referred
587
Shelley in England
to her by name, and this publicity so annoyed Sir
Timothy, that he showed his displeasure by suspending
her allowance, although Mary was in no wise blame-
worthy.
Whitton, in sending Peacock a sum of £50 for Mary
on July 5, 1826, said that it must be considered the
last payment. He added, in the same letter, that
Shelley's eldest son by Harriet, Charles Bysshe, was
in consumption. Six days later he wrote again to
Peacock, and sent him, for Mrs. Shelley's information,
the doctor's report on the boy's case, and said : "I
regret very much the situation of the little fellow ;
he has the affectionate attention of Sir Timothy and
Lady Shelley and of the young ladies at Field Place.
This disaster puts, I fear, a complete negative to the
raising by Mrs. Shelley of an annuity upon her ex-
pectant interest in the Estates incumbered as they
have been."
About the middle of September 1826 little Charles
Shelley died, and Mary's son, Percy Florence, became
heir-presumptive to the baronetcy. It is pretty clear
that there was little love lost between Sir Timothy
and Mary Shelley, and he was probably prepared to
think of his grandson Percy as an interloper, especially
as the boy stood between Sir Timothy's second son
John and the baronetcy. John Shelley, although only
twenty, was already engaged to be married, and his
588
JOHN SHELLEY.
From a photograph -in the possession of Sir John Shelley, Bart.
Conclusion
father, in sending Whitton, on October I5th, a cer-
tificate of Charles's burial, wrote with regard to the
young man's settlement in life : " You mention'd that
you should be enabled during the Vacation to put
into writing the several interests of the State of the
Family concerns and of the interest, etc., of my son
respecting his nuptials. It will be very gratifying to
me so to arrange matters that I may see my way to
do right, and set him out as circumstances admit.
My son will be of age the middle of March next, and
young folks do not feel easy apart when all agree upon
the point, and at my time of Life my only wish is to
make those happy I feel so much interest for, and no
delay will be on my part and I am sure not on yours
in laying before him in due time his expectations."
John Shelley was married on March 24, 1827, to
Eliza, daughter of Charles Bowen of Kilna Court,
Queen's County. Some two years later he appears
to have done something to upset his father, in whose
affections, however, he seems to have had a place that
was denied to or forfeited by Bysshe. The exact
nature of the trouble is not disclosed, but money was
involved. Sir Timothy, in writing to Whitton on
August 18, 1829, said : "I wish he had always been
as cautious in his dealings and I hope he may be so
in future as he is with me : I the rather encouraged
it that he may have an example for the future. Would
589
Shelley in England
not any little memorandum suffice to quiet his fears ?
I wish once to arrange with him, then he must take
care of himself and give me no further trouble. . . .
As John mentioned £800 I told him £1000 would be
better and the other £500 would be ready giving me
some notice. He told me you advis'd him not to be
hasty in replacing the £500. We were all young once."
He referred to the same subject again on September
4th : ' This young man, my son, came to his senses
of his own accord, I wish he may always see his way
right and see his interest with those who wish him
well, amongst whom his Father, and the gentleman
who only knows and understands the concerns in
which he may have to transact business with. Nothing
but the lack of money can make youngsters under-
stand the right use of it." 1
Peacock's good offices were again requisitioned by
Mary to explain to Whitton that her name had not
appeared on the title-pages of her books, and that for
the publicity that had been given to her she was in
no way responsible. Whitton, who acknowledged the
truth of these circumstances, said, " The name was the
matter ; it annoyed Sir Timothy." Although the
1 John Shelley died on Nov. n, 1866. His son Edward, born 1827,
who became 4th Baronet in 1889 on the death of Sir Percy Florence
Shelley, was succeeded as 5th Baronet by his brother Charles, born 1838,
father of the 6th and present Baronet, Sir John Courtown Edward Shelley
of Avington, Hants, and Field Place, Sussex.
590
Conclusion
lawyer would promise nothing, Peacock did not doubt
that Mary would at length receive an allowance,
" though she might be punished by a short delay." l
In writing to Trelawny from Kentish Town, on March
4, 1827, Mary spoke of the extreme severity of the
winter, that had carried off many old people. Sir
Timothy had been laid up with the gout for ten weeks,
but he had recovered. " All that time," she con-
tinued, " a settlement for me was delayed, although
it was acknowledged that Percy, now being the heir,
one ought to be made ; at length after much parading
they have notified me that I shall receive a magnificent
£250 a year, to be increased next year to £300. But
then I am not permitted to leave this cloudy nook.
My desire to get away is unchanged, and I used to
look forward to your return as a period when I might
contrive — but I fear there is no hope during Sir T.'s
life. He and his family are now at Brighton. John
Shelley, dear S.'s brother, is about to marry, and
talks of calling on me."
Mr. Whitton went to Brighton to see Sir Timothy,
who talked over with him Mrs. Shelley's situation.
On his return to London the lawyer saw Mrs. Shelley
and Peacock, and wrote to Sir Timothy, on March
2gth, that he " intimated to them the kind intention
you had of affording protection to her and the child
1 Mrs. Marshall's Life of Mary Shelley, vol. ii. p. 150.
591
Shelley in England
of a limited annual amount, under the sum you men-
tioned to me, because I thought it most prudent to
reserve a portion for the increasing expenses of the
little Boy and she seemed extremely gratified in your
kindness. It was then agreed that a security should
be prepared for what had already been paid amounting
to about £1000, that is £750 by yourself, the residue by
me and for the future advances." After some tedious
negotiations with Whitton and Amory & Cole — the
lawyers representing Peacock as Shelley's sole sur-
viving trustee, in which Peacock displayed exemplary
patience — the business was ultimately arranged. While
these details were under discussion, Sir Timothy wrote,
on April ist, to Whitton :
" My motive for arranging with your assistance for
Mrs. S. when I had the pleasure of seeing you at
Brighton, was to set her above the evils of pecuniary
want, and whatever I may feel under the general
circumstances, I can never harbour within my breast
unchristian-like Feelings towards her, but to make
the best of existing things, and acting upon principle
and rectitude. Mr. Peacock, her Friend, will no doubt
be influenced by the same Motives, and as you are
aware of the best to be done, I have only to add, that
her Friend may be assur'd, you have ever been a
powerful advocate in her favour, and nothing but
what is honourable and just would be proposed.
" I forbear to enter into past events, but look to what
is just and may be so made appear to all parties.
592
Conclusion
" Except on a point of positive Law I have not for a
long time held the opinion of Counsel in much esti-
mation. I hope the justness of any case I may have
to do with may be the rule.
" Having completely conquer 'd Gout etc. without the
aid of medical advisers, you will as readily conquer the
case upon the like principle, Patience and well doing."
Sir Timothy decided to take a personal part in these
negotiations, and Whitton therefore wrote to Peacock,
on May gth, to say that his client was desirous of
having an explanation in regard to the security with
him, and, if he thought proper, with his solicitor,
Mr. Amory ; and he added that if he could con-
veniently bring the little boy Sir Timothy would be
glad to see him : " but he particularly wishes not to
trouble Mrs. Shelley to call with him."
A few days after the interview Sir Timothy wrote
to his lawyer : "I felt so unman'd and unpleasant
feelings at meeting the Little Boy, and the Gentleman
with you, and Mr. Amory brought to my recollection
the past, that it unfitted me to say more than leaving
it, and most properly too, in your hands : It did not
appear to me that Mr. Amory brook'd giving way. I
trust you will succeed at last, for I am sure you pointed
out no more than was just, if she perchance hold under
the will. The Little Boy appear'd a child of 5 years
of age ; he look'd very small, very healthy, and very
clean in his person."
593 2P
Shelley in England
In handing over the business to be settled by
Whitton, Sir Timothy showed that he distrusted the
methods of Messrs. Amory & Cole, but he wrote on
May 2ist that " Mr. Peacock seemed to wish to act
properly." The delays were causing Mary great in-
convenience, and Peacock therefore drafted a letter
for her to send to Sir Timothy, which she copied out
and sent to Mr. Whitton.
Mary W. Shelley to Sir Timothy Shelley
KENTISH TOWN,
May 29, 1827.
SIR, — It is the subject of great anxiety to me that
the period of my signing the deed drawn by Mr. Whitton
is again delayed, and I am the more mortified since
it appears that this delay is occasioned by a communi-
cation of mine. When Mr. Whitton proposed to me
that on the contingency of my inheriting on Bysshe's
Will I should repay the sums advanced and to be
advanced by you to me and my child, I immediately
acceded to the arrangement as being just and proper.
Mr. Whitton wished that the deed he should draw
should be seen and approved by a Solicitor on my part.
Mr. Peacock named Mr. Amory, and Mr. Whitton was
satisfied with this nomination. As soon as the affair
was put into the hands of a Solicitor, I of course con-
sidered myself obliged to act under his directions, and
in consequence of Mr. Amory's objections all this
delay has occurred.
For myself I do not hesitate to say that I put every
594
Conclusion
confidence in you, Sir Timothy, and that I feel perfectly
secure that my interests are safe in your hands, and
I am ready to confide them to your direction. It is
hard therefore that while I am satisfied with the
arrangements you make, that the objections of my
advisers should subject me to the dreadful embarrass-
ments with which I am now struggling. It was in
February last that Mr. Whitton announced to me your
intention of allowing me £250 p. ann., since then I
have received no supply. I have lived on credit —
the bills incurred are now presented for payment, and
neither have I funds to defray them nor any by which
I can continue to exist.
I do not understand business : and I do not mean
to bring this subject before you as a question of
business. The interest you shewed for my son en-
couraged me in the hope that you also will be desirous
of facilitating my earnest wish of bringing him up
properly. I consider it perfectly right that I should
repay the sums you advance to me for his support,
but the means for his support I can only obtain
through you. I am sure that you will not permit a
question of forms merely to interfere with the welfare
of your grandson and the respectability of his mother.
It is a great misfortune to me that I am not permitted
to see you. It would have been a great happiness
if, left a widow, I could have been under the protec-
tion of Bysshe's father. This good is denied to me :
but let me entreat you to enter into my situation
and not to delay in relieving me from the humiliation
and distresses to which I am subjected. I believe
that Mr. Whitton feels assured that confidence may be
safely placed in me and will not advise any further
postponement in the desired settlement.
595
Shelley in England
Let me entreat you therefore, Sir Timothy, to direct
that the deed in question may be immediately pre-
pared for my signature. Every day is of consequence
to me : your kind feelings will, I do not doubt, cause
as few to intervene as possible before I am relieved
from my embarrassments.
Percy is quite well, and often speaks of you : I
hope it will not be long before he has the honour of
seeing you again.
I am your obliged and obt. servant,
MARY SHELLEY.
This letter did not meet with Whitton's approval,
and one gathers from Mary's next letter that he ex-
cused himself from sending it on to Sir Timothy on
account of some domestic trouble under which he was
suffering at the time.
Mary W. Shelley to W. Whitton
KENTISH TOWN,
June 4, 1827.
SIR, — I am sorry that my letter to Sir Timy Shelley
is not satisfactory. I beg you will attribute my
failure to my utter ignorance of business and my not
knowing exactly what it was necessary that I should
say.
I thought that when I expressed my perfect
confidence in Sir Timothy, and my readiness to sign
the deed in question, that I should efface any dis-
agreeable impression made by my letter to Mr. Amory.
596
Conclusion
The explanation of that letter is simple. I had, at
your wish, confided the conduct of my affairs to Mr.
Peacock.
I copied the letter — which certainly when he com-
posed he had no intention it should contain any ex-
pressions offensive to Sir T. Shelley. You told me
that it conveyed the idea that a foundation was to
be laid by it for a suit in Chancery — I am sorry it
should have been so ill worded — I utterly disclaim
any such intention or thought on my part — I beg to
retract any expressions that would give rise to such
an idea, or that detract at all from the perfect confi-
dence I feel in Sir Timothy.
I trust that my present communication fills up any
omission in my last. If not, and if you will let me
know that such is the case, I will call on you at any
hour you will appoint that I may learn by what act
or word of mine I can bring this painful negociation
to a conclusion.
I am most anxious to make the required concessions
and to sign the deed — My situation is one of struggle
and embarrassment — Besides the debts I have been
obliged to incur — I made arrangements (when on the
interview of Sir Timy with Messrs. Peacock and Amory,
I thought the negociation on the eve of terminating)
to quit Kentish Town. I cannot delay my departure
more than a fortnight or three weeks — and yet without
money I cannot discharge my bills here — Permit me
to request as a personal favour to myself that you
would kindly use your influence with Sir Timothy —
and as speedily as circumstances will permit make
such communication to him as will bring this dis-
tressing delay to a termination.
May I be allowed to ask what the circumstance is
597
Shelley in England
to which you allude as having occurred in Sir Tim's
family.
I am, Sir,
Your obt. Sevt.,
MARY W. SHELLEY.
Sir Timothy agreed at length to advance a sum upon
Mrs. Shelley's bond, with the provision that the amount
was to be repaid to his estate on his death with interest
at 5 per cent. This sum was to provide her with an
annual income, to commence on September ist, which
was first fixed at £250, and was subsequently to be
augmented when later she would have to meet the
increased expenses of her son's education. According
to Mrs. Marshall, Mary was staying during most of
the autumn of 1827 at Arundel in Sussex, " with, or
in the near neighbourhood of her friends, the Miss
Robinsons. There were several sisters, to one of
whom, Julia, Mrs. Shelley was much attached." *
While in Sussex Mary wrote to Whitton, on August
I5th, from Sompting, near Shoreham, and said she
desired to express " her grateful thanks " to Sir
Timothy " for his attentions to my poor boy and his
kindness towards myself. Percy is very well indeed.
The fresh country air and sea baths have added to
his look of perfect health. This makes me the less
1 Life and Letters of Mary W. Shelley, by Mrs. Julia Marshall, vol. ii.
p. 183.
598
Conclusion
regret a short delay in putting him to School. Mr.
Peacock has meanwhile promised to make enquiries
concerning one : My plan is that it should be at a
short distance from town and that I should reside
close to it. This will be quite necessary at first while
he is a day scholar, and afterwards I should not choose
to be at any distance from him/' Mary found a school
for Percy, kept by a Mr. Slater, at Kensington, where
she sent him on March 25, 1828. 1 She now saw an
opportunity of gratifying her long-cherished desire to
take a holiday on the Continent. During Percy's
Easter holidays, on April 8th, she wrote to Whitton :
" A friend of mine has arrived from the South at
Paris, and intends immediately almost to proceed to
Germany. As I desire very much to profit by this
only opportunity I shall have of seeing her, I intend
going to Paris the day after I take Percy back to
school (next Thursday). As I shall be exceedingly
anxious to return to him, I shall not remain away
more than three weeks. The opportunity is the more
desirable as I join other friends who are going."
On April nth Mary wrote in her diary : "I depart
for Paris sick of heart yet pining to see my friend "
(Julia Robinson). According to the statement of one
who knew Mary, in a book entitled Traits of Character,
" Honour to the authoress and admiration for the
1 The school is now the Church House to the Carmelite Church.
599
Shelley in England
woman awaited her " in Paris. Mary, however, was
both depressed and ill on her journey, and little wonder ;
for, as she wrote in her diary, she was sickening of
the smallpox, with which she was confined to bed as
soon as she arrived in Paris, and although the nature
of her disaster was concealed from her till her con-
valescence, she was not so easily duped. Her illness
was succeeded by buoyant health and spirits. Though,
she said, " a monster to look at," she endeavoured to
make herself agreeable to her friends in Paris, " who
were very amiable."
Mrs. Shelley stayed at Dover for a few days, on her
return from the Continent, for the benefit of the sea-
bathing.1 During her absence she had heard the
gratifying news that Sir Timothy had been to see Percy
at his school in Kensington. He was much pleased
with the little boy, so she was told by Whitton, who
believed that Lady Shelley and the Miss Shelleys —
then staying in London — also visited Percy. Whitton
had also heard that Sir Timothy stated that the
child should have lessons in dancing. Mary showed
in her letters that she was very anxious her boy
should see his grandfather at regular intervals. The
old gentleman did meet him from time to time, but
it does not appear that he ever gratified Mary's desire
1 Mary was at Dover on June 4, on which date she wrote to Whitton
from that place.
600
Conclusion
to receive her, although she made frequent attempts
to break down his reserve.
In the following letter to a friend of her girlhood,
formerly Isabel Baxter, Mary described her illness and
her visit to Paris. It would be interesting to identify
the name of the young French poet who was so
attracted to Mary. There were so many young poets
at that time in Paris, each of whom was considered
the cleverest man in France.
Mary W. Shelley to Mrs. Isabel Booth
DOVER, June 15 [1828].
MY DEAR GIRL, — You will have heard from Mrs.
Godwin of my hateful illness and its odious results.
Instead of returning to town as I most exceedingly
desired — to join my friends there, and to see again
dear Isabel — I am fain to hide myself in the country,
and as I am told sea bathing will assist materially
the disappearance of the marks, I remain on the coast.
I shall long to see you again — to relate and to hear
a thousand histories — if I make a longer stay in the
country than I now intend perhaps you will join me—
but I mean now to return with Percy at the end of
his holidays, that is, at the end of July.
I was sickening of my illness when I left town — my
journey was so painful that I shudder at the recol-
lection, and I arrived only to go to bed. What will
you say to my philosophy when at the end of three
weeks in brilliant health but as ugly as the - - I
went into society — I was well repaid for my fortitude,
60 1
Shelley in England
for I am delighted with the people I saw — and some
I love and they merit my affection. What will you
say also to the imagination of one of the cleverest
men in France, young and a poet, who could be inter-
ested in me in spite of the mark I wore — It was rather
droll to play the part of an ugly person for the first
time in my life, yet it was very amusing to be told —
or rather not to be told but to find, that my face was
not all my fortune.
I have excellent news of my darling boy, whom I
long to see again — I hope you are well — Mrs. G. men-
tioned in her last letter that your children had called
there and that all seemed well with you. When I
last saw you, dear friend, I very little anticipated this
long separation — not at all did I fear that I should
avoid London on my return from Paris — instead of
seeking it as I intended as speedily as possible —
Patience ! my malady has made me lose a year of
my life — but in spite of the marks that still remain
(I am in no danger of permanent disfigurement) I am
in good health — and so different from my dreary
state all last winter — and looking younger than when
you saw me last.
Write to me, dearest, and direct to me at J. Robin-
son, Esq., Park Cottage, Paddington — and your letter
will be forwarded — Early next week I go to Hastings.
My love to Isabel and Kate and remembrances to
Mr. Booth.
Affectionately,
M. S.
Have the goodness, love, to put the enclosed in the
twopenny post for me.
602
Conclusion
Mary expected that her yearly allowance would have
been increased to £300 on sending Percy to school,
and she put her case before Whitton for reference to
her father-in-law. Until her request was granted she
addressed frequent letters to the lawyer, who, loath to
give his client the trouble of following the corre-
spondence, only applied to him when compelled. But
the subject irritated Sir Timothy, who at length grew
testy and wrote : "I must entreat to leave this very
troublesome woman to your judgment in respect to
Finances. . . . What a wonderful assembly of animals
I have to deal with." * Of Mary's letters he said :
" They are couched in terms far from my approbation,
and I trust you will be spared the repetition. I have
every sentiment of wishing well to her and the little
boy, and that there may be no further trouble given
you, under the circumstances I will advance £300 per
annum from the ist day of June 1829." * Mrs. Shelley
told Whitton, in a letter written on December 2nd,
that Percy was receiving lessons in drilling, with a
view to curing him of a tendency to stoop. She could
not resist a little thrust at her father-in-law, and added :
" I think Sir Timothy would find him [Percy] im-
proved and he is really very good and above all tract-
able, which is not quite the virtue of his father's
family."
1 Sir T. Shelley to Whitton, January 19, 1829. * Ibid., June I, 1829.
603
Shelley in England
On her return to London Mary went to stay with
her friends the Robinsons at Park Cottage, Padding-
ton. She repeated her visits to them on many occa-
sions, and on September I, 1830, she wrote a letter
from their address to Whitton on some matter of
business. Her friendship with the Robinsons gave
rise to a rumour that must have caused her annoy-
ance. Whitton wrote to Sir Timothy, on November i,
1830, that a person had come into his room and told
him, among other things, that " Mrs. Bysshe Shelley
had married a person named Robinson," and on
inquiry the lawyer obtained the impression, which
appears to have had no foundation, that she had
lately changed her residence to the house of a person
of that name. Sir Timothy replied that Mrs. Paul,
wife of the banker's son, while on a visit to Field Place,
had spoken of Mary and her little boy, whom she
expected to see, whereupon Sir Timothy requested
her to take the child a sovereign. The gift was
acknowledged in the following letter of thanks to
Sir Timothy, who described it as " dictated artfully " ;
and he added, with regard to the child's remark that
he hoped he should some day be allowed to pay a
visit to his grandfather : " On no account whatever
would I take the boy. I felt so much on the death
of Charles." Sir Timothy thought that Mrs. Paul
might be able to solve the question of Mary's sup-
604
Conclusion
posed marriage. Whitton, however, on making the
next payment to Mary, asked her the question, and
she declared that she was not married, and there the
matter rested.
Percy Florence Shelley to Sir Timothy Shelley
33 SOMERSET ST.,
j 2th of November, my birthday, 1830.
MY DEAR GRANDPAPA, — I am very much obliged to
you for your kindness in thinking of your little grand-
son, and in sending me a fine bright sovereign, and
I shall think of the goodness of my dear Grandpapa
each time I buy any pretty thing with it.
When shall I see you again ? I hope soon. As I
get on at school, and I hear Mr. Slater is satisfied
with me, perhaps some day you will be so very good
as to let me pay you and my Grandmama a visit in
the country. I am learning to draw, and I like draw-
ing better than any other lesson. I shall buy a box of
paints with some of the money you have given me.
Pray give my duty to Lady Shelley and my love to
my aunts. I hope, dear Grandpapa, that you will
love me, and I will try always to be a good boy. Some
ladies friends of Mama who know you, say I am very
like you, so I am sure I ought to be good.
I am, my dear Grandpapa,
Your dutiful grandson,
PERCY FLORENCE SHELLEY.
Mary Shelley did not marry again, but she received
from Trelawny, then her devoted friend and constant
605
Shelley in England
correspondent, an offer of marriage in 1831. To him
she wrote, on June I4th of that year : " Do you think
I shall marry ? Never, — neither you nor anybody
else. Mary Shelley shall be written on my tomb, —
and why ? I cannot tell, except that it is so pretty
a name, that though I were to preach to myself for
years, I never should have the heart to get rid of it."
In a subsequent letter to him she was equally em-
phatic : " My name will never be Trelawny." Al-
though his attitude towards Mary underwent no im-
mediate change, Trelawny did not remain constant
in his devotion ; he seems gradually to have forgotten
his former regard for her, and after her death he gave
expression to some ungenerous thoughts of the woman
whom he once wooed with fervour.
During these years, when Mary was employed in
trying to exact from her father-in-law a few additional
pounds to her allowance, it is not to be supposed that
she lived in seclusion. She does not appear naturally
to have been a very cheerful person ; on the contrary,
she was given, when alone, to fits of depression and
melancholy. Her days were principally devoted to
close literary work, though, so far from boasting of
her authorship, she pursued her studies almost secretly,
and disliked to be found at work by her friends. What
Mary Shelley really loved was society, and although
her means did not allow her to give dinner parties or
606
Conclusion
to go to the opera, she made her Wednesday evenings
at Somerset Street a feature of London literary life.
Besides Shelley's old associates — the Hoggs, Peacock,
Hunt, and Horace Smith — who hung together chiefly
out of regard for his memory, she also numbered among
her friends the Lambs, Bulwer Lytton, and Thomas
Moore. Trelawny would have been among her sup-
porters, but he was still abroad, as also was Medwin,
though he was not specially in Mary's favour on account
of his book on Byron and his aspiration to write Shelley's
life, a feat which he subsequently accomplished, much
to her dismay.
During the cholera visitation to London in 1832
Mary, anxious for the safety of her boy, took him into
the country to a place of safety at Sandgate, but her
family did not escape unscathed. Her half-brother
William, Godwin's only child by his second wife, a
promising young man, was carried off by the epidemic,
at the age of thirty-one, in the autumn of 1832. At
the time of his death he was parliamentary reporter
to the Morning Pvst, was happily married, and he had
finished a novel, Transfusion, the publication of which
was arranged, in 1835, by his father, who prefaced the
book by a memoir.
The old philosopher, saddened by the loss of his
son, had fallen on evil days. With advancing years
he found it increasingly difficult to keep the wolf from
607
Shelley in England
the door. A subscription had been raised in 1823 for
his benefit by his friends and admirers. The shop,
never a profitable undertaking, had been abandoned,
but Mary helped him whenever she could. At length,
in 1833, Earl Grey obtained for him the small sinecure
of Yeoman of the Exchequer, with residence in New
Palace Yard. The nominal duties of the office were
wholly performed by deputies. Shortly after his
appointment the post was abolished. Godwin, how-
ever, was allowed to retain it through the generous
influence of some of his old opponents. He enjoyed
his pension for some three years, retaining his faculties
to the last. He passed away on April 7, 1836, and was
buried, as he had desired, by the side of Mary Woll-
stonecraft in Old St. Pancras' Churchyard.
Godwin's bones were not allowed to remain long in
their resting-place, as the construction of two London
railways, which run below and through the church-
yard, made it necessary to disturb his grave and that
of many others. His grandson, Sir Percy Florence
Shelley, caused the remains of Godwin and Mary
Wollstonecraft to be removed in 1851 to the grave
at St. Peter's, Bournemouth, where Mary Shelley
lies buried. The old four-sided tombstone, where
Shelley and Mary plighted their troth in the spring
of 1814, is still to be seen in the public garden
into which Old St. Pancras' churchyard has been
608
'j**i&
'^^^yX^^gm
' ^l ' •
From a drawing' by D. Collins
THE TOMBSTONE OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND
WILLIAM GODWIN
IN ST. PANCRAS' BURIAL GROUND
Conclusion
converted, and where the inscriptions may still be
read :
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN, author of A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman.
Born 27 April, 1759. Died 10 September, 1797.
WILLIAM GODWIN, author of Political Justice.
Born March 3, 1756. Died April 7, 1836. Aged 80 years.
MARY JANE, second wife of WILLIAM GODWIN.
Died June 17, 1841. Aged 75 years.
The following is from a copy of Godwin's will among
the Shelley-Whitton papers, and is characteristic of
the man who, though he had little to bequeath
except the pictures, would not take leave of the world
without expressing his last wishes. The pictures,
however, proved a valuable inheritance ; that of him-
self and Mary Wollstonecraft passed to Sir Percy
Shelley, and on the death of his widow they found
their way to the National Portrait Gallery.
March 12, 1827.
It is the Will of me William Godwin, that all the
property of which I die possessed, should go to my
wife, Mary Jane Godwin, And I request Mr. John
Corrie Hudson of the Legacy Office, Somerset House,
to take upon him the administration of this my last
Will, as sole Executor.
Witness my hand this twelfth day of March one
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
WILLIAM GODWIN.
611
Shelley in England
I leave to my son & my daughter my best and
most affectionate remembrances, believing the one to
be so provided for by the gifts of nature, & the
other by marriage & the will of her late husband
that nothing that I could add, could be of any im-
portance to them. — I request them both to accept a
book, or set of books from my library, at their own
choice, as a slight memorial of that affection, of which
I would have yielded more substantial testimony, if
fortune had put it in my power to do so.
My portrait by Northcote is the principal memo-
randum of my corporeal existence that will remain
after my death. This is of course included in the
above general bequest to my wife. But I should not
wish it to go from my children, & therefore after
her death, I consider it as theirs. If my son, after
my death, should be poor perhaps my daughter would
purchase his right in it, at what should be judged by
an impartial umpire a reasonable rate. The portrait
of her mother by Opie is of course my daughter's :
& I should not wish that of Mr. Holer oft to be
brought to the hammer. It is further my earnest
desire that my daughter would have the goodness to
look over the manuscripts that shall be found in my
own hand-writing, & decide which of them are fit
to be printed, consigning the rest to the flames.
I know not whether any of the letters received by
me, will be found proper to accompany my worthier
papers. Let her judge.
Unless any substantial reason should be offered for
a different destination, it is my desire that my mortal
remains should be deposited as near as may be, to
those of the author of A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman, in St. Pancras' Churchyard.
612
Conclusion
It was Shelley's wish that his son should go to a
public school, and Mary suggested, at the end of 1830,
that he should be sent to Eton. Sir Timothy, however,
would not hear of it, as the place aroused painful
memories. In regard to this proposal, he said it
" would be highly improper, his Poor Father's being
there would make his life very unpleasant. From
experience I am aware whatever a boy does at a
Public School is remember'd for ages. He had better
remain at present where he is." Harrow was then
proposed, but was rejected at first as being too near
London ; but his mother subsequently arranged that
he should go there, and he entered the school at
Michaelmas 1832. Mrs. Shelley went to live at the
town on the hill in the following April, so as to be
near Percy, who liked the school and progressed ; but
not so his mother, who was taken ill there and after-
wards pined for the society of her friends in London.
Mr. Whitton, who had commenced these arrange-
ments for Percy's education, did not live to see them
completed : he had been ailing for some time, and he
died in July 1832. Sir Timothy strongly disapproved
of Mary's choice, and grumbled at the expense that
she had incurred in placing the boy in a Master's
house. He thought that she might have obtained
equal advantages at Westminster, Merchant Taylors',
St. Paul's, or one of the metropolitan schools, and he
Shelley in England
declined to listen further to her " importunities " for
further help. But she persisted, and Sir Timothy
then pointed out that the sum of £6000 which he had
agreed to advance would soon be exhausted. " She
may not be aware," he wrote to Mr. Gregson, Whitton's
successor, in May 1833, " of what may be the residue,
and she observ'd too, was I afraid of losing my money.
Haughty Dame ! "
Mary had evidently thought of putting her son
into the law, as Mr. Gregson observed, in a letter to her
on December 5, 1835, that it was a very good thing
to be a barrister if one possessed industry and perse-
verance, but that it was a very laborious profession,
and without those qualifications success could not be
expected in it. He reminded her that the bulk of
the property that Percy would inherit was amassed
by one of his ancestors who was a lawyer in the Temple,1
and he added that he should be very glad to see Percy
imitate the example. Percy was not, however, destined
to be a lawyer. His mother arranged that he should
leave Harrow at Easter 1836, and she placed him
with a tutor, Mr. Morrison, vicar of Stoneleigh, near
Leamington. In writing to Gregson of her intention,
she said :
" Percy is in robust health — well-grown — he has
1 Edward Shelley of Field Place, Warnham (the testator of 1747) was
of the Middle Temple.
614
Conclusion
good spirits and a good temper. I wish Sir Tim
would see him before he goes. It is hard that going
into another county — where I am promised that he
shall be kindly received — that he should go without
any mark of kindness from his Father's family, who
were not always estranged from him. He himself
remembers that his Grandfather was at one time
kind enough to notice him, and wonders why there
should be any change now, when the notice would
benefit him more."
The care that Mary had bestowed on Percy's train-
ing and education was productive of happy results.
The youth, who had a good deal, of the Godwin
placidness in his character, seems to have shown
himself worthy of his mother's solicitude. Trelawny
had observed in a letter to Mary, that "it is well
for mamma, Percy has so much of her temperate
blood. When us three meet, we shall be able to ice
the wine by placing it between us ; that will be nice,
as the girls say." *
It is interesting to obtain a view of Shelley's son
as he appeared to his mother at the age of seventeen
and a half : a greater contrast to his father could not
be conceived. The description is taken from a letter
which she wrote to Trelawny from Brighton on
January 3, 1837 :
" Percy arrived yesterday, having rather whetted
than satisfied his appetite by going seven times to a
1 E. J. Trelawny to Mary W. Shelley, Hastings, Sep. 25, 1836.
615
Shelley in England
play. He plays like Apollo on the flageolet, and like
Apollo is self-taught. Jane thinks him a miracle !
it is very odd. He got a frock-coat at Mettes, and,
if you had not disappointed with your handkerchief,
he would have been complete ; he is a good deal
grown, though not tall enough to satisfy me ; how-
ever, there is time yet. He is quite a child still, full
of theatres and balloons and music, yet I think there
is a gentleness about him which shows the advent
of the reign of petticoats — how I dread it."
Percy Shelley subsequently went up to Trinity
College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in
1841. We get another glimpse of him, now an under-
graduate, and as he appeared in September 1838 to
Gregson, who wrote of him to Sir Timothy : "He
is rather thick-set ; but good-looking, healthy and
well-mannered. ' '
Although the publication of Mary's romance The
Last Man had been attended with unpleasant con-
sequences, she did not abandon the writing of fiction.
Her historical romance Perkin Warbeck, published in
1829, was followed in 1835 by a modern novel entitled
Lodore, which, as Professor Dowden discovered, con-
tains a veiled autobiography describing the author's
privations in London during the year 1814.
With the single exception of Frankenstein, no one
to-day reads Mary Shelley's novels, which have passed
to the limbo of the forgotten. Her literary labours
616
Conclusion
in another direction have met with better fortune.
We have seen that when Sir Timothy Shelley put
pressure on Mary to suppress her husband's Pos-
thumous Poems, he exacted a promise from her that
during his life she would not attempt to bring Shelley's
name before the public. She kept this promise,
although in 1835 she wrote to tell Mrs. Gisborne that
she had received an offer of £600 for an edition of
Shelley's works with a Life and notes. She added,
" I am afraid it cannot be arranged, yet at least, and
the Life is out of the question."
In the early eighteen-thirties the tide was already
turning in favour of Shelley's poetry, and, although
there was no authoritative edition of his works,
collections of his poems were being circulated by
unauthorised publishers. The Galignanis of Paris had
issued in 1829 a handsome volume containing Shelley's
poems with those of Coleridge and Keats, together
with short memoirs and portraits of each poet. The
portrait of Shelley was from Miss Curran's picture,
which was then in Mary's possession, and it is probable
that she assisted the Paris publishers in the arrange-
ment of her husband's poems. Among other editions
of Shelley's poems were two volumes of selections
brought out in 1827 with the imprint of one Benbow,
a notorious London piratical printer. A volume of
Benbow's issue fell into Robert Browning's hands
Shelley in England
when a boy, and the book, which was recently sold
at the sale of the poet's library, bore evidences that
it had been the object of the deepest study.
By the year 1838, then, the time had fully arrived
for the publication of a collected edition of Shelley's
poetry, under the editorship of some person of autho-
rity. The choice naturally fell to Mrs. Shelley, and
she again ventured to approach Sir Timothy Shelley's
legal adviser, and with some hope that her plea might
be granted. Mr. Gregson, who was apparently a man
of broader views than his predecessor Mr. Whitton,
wrote on August 4, 1838, to Sir Timothy :
" Mrs. Shelley writes to me, ' When I returned to
England nearly fifteen years ago, Sir Timothy made it
a condition with me that I should not publish Shelley's
Poems. I complied. His motive was that he did
not wish his poetry republished ; but this has not
prevented the publication, but only prevented me
from receiving any benefit from it. Many pirated
editions have been published. There is now a question
of another edition, which if I were allowed to carry
on myself would be very advantageous to me. I wish
therefore to learn whether I might.' I am unable to
answer this inquiry, and have not said that I should
write to you on the subject, but if you have any wish
be pleased to inform me. The ' March of Intellect '
since 1815 has probably placed the rising generation
in a situation to be little damaged by this poetry,
which I have read of, but never read."
618
Conclusion
Sir Timothy granted Mary's request, on condition
that she did not publish a memoir of Shelley with
his poems. She overcame this difficulty, however, by
contributing a series of valuable notes to the poems,
which contain many biographical facts, and constitute
one of the most important sources of information with
regard to the poet's life and works. In her preface
she explained the aims that guided her in the prepara-
tion of the work. She said :
" Obstacles have long existed to my presenting the
public with a perfect edition of Shelley's Poems.
These being at last happily removed, I hasten to fulfil
an important duty — that of giving the productions of
a sublime genius to the world, with all the correct-
ness possible, and of, at the same time, detailing the
history of those productions, as they sprung, living
and warm, from his heart and brain. I abstain from
any remark on the occurrences of his private life ;
except inasmuch as the passions which they engen-
dered, his poetry. This is not the time to relate the
truth ; and I should reject any colouring of the truth."
In dealing with the text of Queen Mob a difficulty
arose, which Mary explained in the following letter :
Mary W. Shelley to Leigh Hunt
41 PARK STREET,
December 12, 1838.
MY DEAR HUNT, — I am about to publish an edition
of our Shelley's Poems, Sir Tim giving leave if there
619
Shelley in England
is no biography. I want a copy of the original edition
of Queen Mob to correct the press from — it must be
the original — it would not go to the Printers, but only
[be] used to correct from. Have you one — or do you
know who has — Has Miss Kent ? I should be so
grateful for the loan. Moxon wants me to leave out
the sixth part as too atheistical. I don't like Atheism
— nor does he now. Yet I hate mutilation — what do
you say ? How have you been, and when does your
Play come out ? With love to Marianne,
Yours ever,
M. W. SHELLEY.
Let me have the book quickly — if you have it — as
the press is waiting.
Mrs. Shelley's edition of her husband's poems was
issued in four small volumes (the first of which came
out early in 1839), and it was dedicated, with the
date of January 20, to Percy Florence Shelley, " by
his affectionate mother, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley."
She had yielded to the wishes of Edward Moxon her
publisher, and omitted from the text of Queen Mob
the greater part of Canto 6, the whole of Canto 7, and
a considerable portion of the notes. Mary soon had
reason to regret her compliance, and wrote in her
diary on February 12, 1839, that she wished she had
resisted her publisher's request, but she had given way
when she was told that the inclusion of certain portions
of Queen Mob " would injure the copyright of all the
620
Conclusion
volumes." She had consulted Hogg, Hunt, and Pea-
cock, and they all said she had a right to do as she
liked, and they themselves offered no objections.
When the book was published, her friends seemed
to change their views. Trelawny sent back the
volume containing Queen Mob to Moxon in a rage,
on seeing that the poem had not been reprinted in
its entirety. Hogg wrote to Mary an insulting letter
because the dedication to Harriet in Queen Mob had
been omitted.
Mary confided to her diary that Hogg as well as
others had misunderstood her. She said that when
a copy of Clarke's pirated reprint of Queen Mob had
reached Shelley, in the year 1821, while he was at
the Bagni di Pisa, he was gratified to see that the
dedication to Harriet had been omitted.1 The recollec-
tion of this incident had actuated her to leave out
the dedication from her reprint. " It was to do him
honour," she wrote, " what could it be to me ? There
are other verses I should well like to obliterate for
ever, but they will be printed ; and any to her could
in no way tend to my discomfort, or gratify one un-
generous feeling. They shall be restored, though I
do not feel easy as to the good I do Shelley. I may
have been mistaken." Perhaps one of the poems that
1 Clarke's reprint of Queen Mab did contain the dedication to Harriet,
but it is absent from some copies and was lacking in the one that
Shelley saw.
621
Shelley in England
Mary might have wished to suppress was Epipsychidion,
which, however, she bravely printed, but without a
word of comment.
A new edition l of the poems was in requisition
before the end of the year, and Mrs. Shelley prevailed
on Moxon to let her restore the omitted passages
from Queen Mab, and the dedication. She made some
other small additions to and corrections in the text,
but she also printed, for the first time, Peter Bell the
Third, and included Swellfoot the Tyrant, which was
entirely new to the public ; though issued in 1820
during Shelley's lifetime, it had been promptly " stifled
at the very dawn of its existence by the Society for
the Suppression of Vice." Although this new edition
satisfied Shelley's friends, and drew from Trelawny
a friendly letter to Moxon of approval^and regret for
having written his former hasty remonstrance, it led
to a Government prosecution in 1841 of Moxon for
publishing Queen Mab. The case, however, was decided
in favour of the publisher, who was ably defended by
Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd.
As soon as Mary had prepared the new edition of
Shelley's poems, she collected some of his prose writings,
among which were The Defence of Poetry, the transla-
1 This edition of Shelley's works in royal 8vo contained the frontispiece
portrait of the poet which appeared in the four- volume edition, also a
view of his tomb. On this plate is the date of 1 839, the title-page bears
the date of 1840, and the author's postscript is dated Nov. 6, 1839.
622
Conclusion
tions from Plato, and a selection of his admirable
letters from Italy ; these were published in two
volumes in 1840. The severe strain of editing these
works of Shelley brought on an illness in the spring
of 1839, which Mary bore with fortitude, and from
which she happily soon recovered. About the middle
of the following year, having completed her work, she
was able to leave England, with Percy and a College
friend of his, on the first of many tours on the Con-
tinent, which is described in her Rambles in Germany
and Italy. This, her last work, was published in 1844.
The travellers visited some of those scenes familiar to
Mary in former and happier times — the Villa Diodati,
Byron's residence in 1816, and the Maison Chapuis,
where Shelley and Mary stayed in that year and
where she began to write Frankenstein. The houses
had remained as they were formerly, but Shelley,
Byron, and her little William were gone, while Clare
had drifted away. The contemplation of these changes
no doubt produced some of those melancholy thoughts
to which Mary was too readily prone.
The pecuniary circumstances of Mrs. Shelley and
her son were now much improved. Percy came of
age in 1840, and in the following year, when he took
his degree, his grandfather made him an allowance of
£400 a year as a gift without any condition for its
repayment. Mr, Gregson, in writing to Sir Timothy
623
Shelley in England
on February 20, 1841, spoke of his kindness to his
grandson, whom he hoped and believed would be
grateful. Percy had called on the lawyer, who had
given him his advice in regard to taking up some
useful occupation. The young man disliked both the
Church and the army, and there only remained the
law, which, as Mr. Gregson had before observed, was
very " uphill work." He recommended a course of
reading preparatory to entering a conveyancer's
chambers, in order to know the nature and incidents
of the property he was to manage, and to fill the com-
mission of peace, if he did no more.
Much of Sir Timothy's correspondence with Gregson
during the latter years of his life was concerned with
Stephenson's railway, which ran through a part of
the Shelley property. The old baronet died on April 24,
1844. One of Sir Percy Shelley's first acts on suc-
ceeding to the title was to pay the legacies under his
father's will, and to carry out Shelley's intention of
settling an income on Leigh Hunt. Mary Shelley died
on February i, 1851, at Chester Square, where she
had kept house with her son until his marriage in 1848,
to Jane, daughter of Mr. Thomas Gibson, and widow
of the Hon. Charles Robert St. John. Sir Percy
settled near Bournemouth about the year 1850, having
purchased the Boscombe Manor estates, and he con-
tinued to live there for the remainder of his life. If
624
kind permission of Mr. Walter Withall, who took this photoaraph on the
leads of the Shelley Theatre, Tite Street, Chelsea, in 1881.
SIR PERCY FLORENCE SHELLEY, BART.
To face page 624.
Conclusion
he did not specially inherit from his parents their
literary gifts, he possessed, like his father, a passion
for sailing. At his death he was one of the oldest
members of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and he had
owned successively about a dozen yachts, the names
of which were The Mary, Wildfire, Ginevra, Jane,
Enchantress, Flirt, Nokken, Queen Mab, Extravaganza,
Wren, and Oceana. The last-named was in his pos-
session at the time of his death, and was a boat of some
250 tons. This yacht was originally named Thais, but
Sir Percy said that he had given her a more respectable
reputation by renaming her Oceana as a tribute to
Stevenson. Sir Percy was very fond of the Mediter-
ranean, and spent many winters cruising from Gibraltar
to the Greek islands and the Black Sea, but he was
specially attracted to the Gulf of Spezzia, in the waters
of which his father had met his death.
When he was at home, Sir Percy engaged much of
his time in the production of plays from his own
pen at one of his private theatres ; either at that
which he had built at Boscombe Manor or at the
theatre in Tite Street, near Shelley House, Chelsea
Embankment. He not only provided the plays him-
self, but he composed the music and painted the
scenery with great ability. Sir Percy was a painter
of considerable gifts, which were well displayed in
his drop scenes. At the opening of the Tite Street
625 2 K
Shelley in England
theatre one of his drop scenes, used for the first time
on that occasion, was described as " Shelley's Last
Home," and showed the poet's house at Lerici in the
Bay of Spezzia.
These amateur performances, in which Sir Percy
and Lady Shelley frequently took part, were often
given for some good cause, for he was a liberal supporter
of the charitable and religious institutions at Bourne-
mouth, and soon after the Baptist Chapel was built
at Boscombe he was to be seen worshipping there
from time to time. He has been described to me
by one who knew him for years as a versatile and a
very lovable man ; but one of his peculiarities was
his disinclination to talk about his father.
A characteristic anecdote may be told of Sir Percy,
who is said to have remarked in a casual manner to
a friend with whom he was driving across the Serpen-
tine, that " that is the place where my father's first
wife drowned herself." He would sometimes show
his visitors at Boscombe Manor the discoloured little
Sophocles that was found on Shelley's body and the
eleven companion volumes bound in white vellum
close by it, which offered a striking contrast.
Lady Shelley was an enthusiast where the poet or his
mother was concerned, and her name figures as the
editor on the title-page of The Shelley Memorials,
although that book is said to have been the work of
626
Conclusion
either the late Dr. Richard Garnett or Thomas Hook-
ham, Shelley's old friend and correspondent, the Bond
Street publisher, who in later years assisted Sir Percy
Shelley in the purchase of letters by his father.
Among his friends Sir Percy counted Robert Louis
Stevenson, who was living at Bournemouth shortly
before he left England for the South Seas, and he
dedicated The Master of Ballantrae to him, with the
following inscription, " To Sir Percy Florence and
Lady Shelley as fellow sea-farers and sea-lovers "
with the author, from " the loud shores of a sub-
tropical island near upon 10,000 miles from Boscombe
Chine and Manor ; scenes which rise before me as I
write, along with faces and voices of my friends. . . .
Well, I am for the sea once more ; no doubt Sir Percy
also. Let us make the signal B.R.D." The dedica-
tion is dated May 17, 1889. Sir Percy lived to read
the book, but he was in failing health during that
year. He passed away at Boscombe on December 5,
and was buried in the grave where his mother lies,
at St. Peter's, Bournemouth, on December 10, 1889,
having just completed his seventieth year.
627
APPENDIX I
SHELLEY'S NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE SLATTERS OF
OXFORD (see p. 144)
John Slatter to Sir Timothy Shelley
OXFORD,
January 9, 1823.
SIR,— In consequence of your son's death I again applied
to Mr. Longdill to settle my account against your son but
can obtain no answer, so I have inclosed his acknowledge-
ment of the money but likewise his reference to Mr. Longdill
when resident at Marlom to you, the repayment of which
I have your honour as the circumstance of your son's
being introduced into my family is best known to yourself,
and remain yours,
JOHN SLATTER,
Plumber and Glazier,
High Street.
[In Sir Timothy's writing on the letter is the following :]
" Tolerably impudent.
" Sir T. S. lodged with Mr. Slatter's Family the whole
time he was at Oxford and when he went there occasionally,
and Sir T. S. did desire Mr. Slatter to advise his son against
any irregularities he might see particularly not to get into
debt, for which there was no occasion as he had an ample
allowance."
629
Shelley in England
Mr. Whitton to J. Slatter
3 KING'S ROAD,
January 15, 1823.
SIR,— Sir Tim Shelley has sent me your letter and the
papers enclosed therein and if you will send a person for
them the same shall be delivered. If Sir Tim Shelley
did make his son known to you it was not with the wish
that you should lend him money as Sir Tim well knew
what was proper for his son to spend and that he allowed.
The officious interference of you and of others did a
most serious injury to the Gent that is now no more— it
led him into expenses and a Society and conduct the very
reverse of what Sir Tim wished.
It may therefore be unnecessary for me to say that you
must take your own conduct to recover what you say
you advanced to Mr. Shelley, as Sir Tim declines making
any payment to you on account of it and any further
application to him or to me on the subject will be considered
an intrusion.— Yr. Hble. Servt.,
WM. WHITTON.
[Envelope addressed]
MR. JOHN SLATTER,
Plumber and Glazier,
Oxford.
Henry Slatter to Sir Timothy Shelley
6 MONTAGUE PLACE, WORTHING,
August 13, 1831.
SIR,— It is with feelings of great diffidence that I venture
to approach you knowing that the subject matter must
be painful to a Father's feelings, but having suffered very
630
Appendix I
much in consequence of a honest endeavour to save your
son from flying to Jews for the purpose of obtaining money
at an enormous rate of interest, I therefore lay the case
before you.
Your Son while at College became acquainted with a
person of the name of Brown but who was living at Oxford
under the assumed name of Bird. Of him he agreed to
purchase a work of his writing for £600. Mr. Shelley
applied to us to procure the money for him and he would
repay us when he became of age, or he should have to go
to London and borrow money of the money-lenders on
post-obit bonds : this we dissuaded him from and endeavoured
to raise the money for him as he agreed we should be the
Printers and Publishers of his work. £200 of this sum
was paid out of our pockets in cash and the remainder we
became joint security with him to a person of the name of
Hedges for £400 and were arrested for the amount at the
suit of Hedges by Mr. Graham, Solicitor of Abingdon,
with Law expenses and Principal and interest on the whole
sum. We have lost upwards of £1300.
The whole is justly our due, but we only ask the Bond
and interest thereon having suffered both in body and mind
so much in consequence of it. I remain at Worthing three
weeks longer my family being here for the benefit of their
health after which I shall be in Oxford, but a letter addressed
at the latter place would not at all times find me.
I shall be most ready to wait on you to give you any
further information or to show you the bond which is now
in my possession. — I have the honor to be, Sir, your very
obedient Servt.,
HENRY SLATTER.
SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY, Baronet,
etc., etc., etc.
Shelley in England
Enclosures
Bond to John Hedges, dated 25 March 1811,
of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Esq. . . 400 o o
Interest on ditto at 5 per cent, per annum
to 25 June 1831 . . . 405 o o
805 o o
The above sums have been paid for and on Acct. of
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Esq., by Joseph Munday and Henry
Slatter, late Co-Partners at Oxford, Printers and Book-
sellers, in consequence of proceedings against them by
Wm. Graham, Esq., Solicitor, Abingdon, at the suit of
Hedges.
The following is a later statement of the account sent
after the death of Sir Timothy Shelley in 1844 :—
March 25, 1811.
To Money advanced to Mr. Bird for his MS.
work on Sweden, viz., £200 in Notes of
Hand and £400 raised by joint Bond of
John Hedges, and paid by the late
Joseph Munday and his surviving Part-
ner, Henry Slatter, on account of Percy
Bysshe Shelley, Esq., viz. . . . £600 o o
1844
Sept. 29. Interest 33 and \ years thereon . 1005 o o
1605 o o
[Endorsed] P. B. Shelley, Esq. (decd-)
Mr. Henry Slatter, Bookseller, Oxford.
632
APPENDIX II
SHELLEY'S ARREST FOR DEBT AT CARNARVON IN 1812
(see p. 396)
In Roberts' first letter written to Sir Timothy Shelley
after the death of P. B. S. he refers to a loan to the poet
of £6 only. In the second letter to Peacock, after Sir
Timothy Shelley's death, he asks for £30. Whether this
sum represents compound interest on £6 for twenty years
or not, it is impossible to say. The Owen Williams men-
tioned in the third letter was a brother of Shelley's corre-
spondent John Williams, to whom he wrote from Tanyrallt
on April 14, 1814, "We are in immediate want of money,
could you borrow £25 in my name to paying little debts ?
I know your brother could lend me that sum. I think
you could ask him on such an occasion as this."
William Roberts to Sir Timothy Shelley
CARNARVON, NORTH WALES,
February 7, 1824.
SIR,— I took the liberty of writing to you a few years
ago respecting Six pounds which your son was indebted
to me. I assure you it is a very hard case with me to be
without the money ; really it would be an object to me now,
if you would be kind enough to enclose them. As your
son is dead I have no other person to apply to but yourself ;
you will, I trust, consider the justice of the claim and favor
633
Shelley in England
me with an answer when convenient.— I am, Sir, your
obedient servt.,
WILLIAM ROBERTS, Surgeon.
William Roberts to T. L. Peacock
UXBRIDGE PLACE, CARNARVON, N.W.
June 12, 1844.
SIR,— Having lately seen an account of the death of
Sir Timothy Shelley, may I be allowed to hope you will
pardon the liberty of my troubling you on the following
subject.
About 30 years ago since, his son Mr. P. B. Shelley
was arrested in this town for a sum of money which he
owed, and he would have been put in Gaol if I had not
bailed him for the amount. Thus our acquaintance
commenced, and soon after he sent for me to attend His
family at Tremadoc, 20 miles from this place. I also
lent him some money which he never paid, so he left
the country £30 in my debt. When I called upon you
at the India House last Septr. you encouraged me with
the hope that I should have this £30 in the event
of your surviving Sir Timothy. The whole therefore I
beg respectfully to submit to your sense of justice. If
I can be of any use to you in this country I hope you will
not hesitate to command my service.
My kindest regards to Mrs. Peacock. The favour of
an answer would greatly oblige, Sir, your very humble
servt.,
WILLIAM ROBERTS.
N.B.—It may be proper to observe that Mr. Shelley
paid the money for which he was arrested.
I suppose the Executors of Owen Williams, the Anglesea
farmer, have applied to you.
634
Appendix II
Hugh Owen to T. L. Peacock
POOR LAW COMMISSION OFFICE,
SOMERSET HOUSE,
December 12, 1844.
DEAR SIR,— According to the kind permission which
you gave me this morning I now beg to lay before you
the claim of my old friend and neighbour Mrs. Williams,
the Widow of the late Owen Williams of Gelliniog Wen,
Parish of Llangeinwen, Anglesey.
Many years ago, I believe upwards of 30 (I find I
have no memorandum of the date), Owen Williams, then
residing at Tydden Newborough, Anglesey, advanced
on the application of Mr. Williams of Tyhurit ir Bwlch
Tremmadock, to Mr. Percy Shelley the sum of £100, as
security for which Mr. Shelley gave to him (Owen Williams)
a Bond stipulating for the payment of £200 on the death
of Mr. Shelley's father and grandfather.
No part of this money, which was the hard earnings of
a very small farmer, has ever been repaid : neither has
any interest ever been received.
The payment of the money now would be of essential
service to the poor Widow, and I venture to solicit your
kind interference on her behalf with those who have the
management of the Shelley Family.
I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, your faithful servt.,
HUGH OWEN.
THOS. LOVE PEACOCK, Esq.,
etc., etc., etc.
635
APPENDIX III
SHELLEY'S COACHMAKER'S ACCOUNT, 1813
(see page 408)
John Dumbreck to Sir Timothy Shelley
EDINBURGH, July 4, 1823.
SIR,— I use the freedom of prefixing state of Account
due to me by your late son, John B. Shelley, Esq., con-
tracted while in Edinburgh in 1813.
I have frequently applied for payment to Mr. Shelley's
Agents in London (Messrs. Londill & Butter field) who
delayed paying on the ground of Mr. Shelley's being abroad
and their having no instructions to that effect.
Mr. William Dumbrick of the Hotel St. Andrews Sqr.
here is bound to me for the debt, who when in London
some time ago called on Messrs. Londill & Butterfield
with the Account, who agreed to pay it, but his stay in
Town being exceedingly limited he had not time to call
on these Gentlemen again.
Mr. Dumbrick agreed to see my Account paid in con-
sequence of my declining to part with Mr. Shelley's carriage
after repairing it, but being sensible that this will be a
serious loss to Mr. Dumbrick I have judged it proper to
state the case to you trusting you will see the impropriety
of my insisting on payment from Mr. Dumbrick, he having
no further interest in the matter than a wish to oblige a
customer (as Mr. Shelley was).
I therefore hope you will order payment to be made to
prevent my taking legal measures to force payment from
636
Appendix III
Mr. Dumbrick which I shall be reluctantly compelled to,
in the event of your declining to settle my just claim.—
I remain with much respect, Sir, your most obt. Servant,
JOHN DUMBRECK.
Please address to me, Coachmaker, Edinburgh.
SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY, Bart.
J. B. SHELLEY, Esq., 1813. To JOHN DUMBRECK .
Nov. i. For unhanging the chariot body,
taking off the eight springs, tak-
ing them asunder, putting in 8
new main Plates, 4 new steel,
pulling the springs together again
and fixing them on . . £580
,, i new double-screwed Hasp for screw-
ing the other 3 Hasps, 13 new
bolts, 2 new blocks, hanging the
body, painting and picking out
the 8 springs .... 240
,, New leather for the front, lined with
shalloon and screwed to the top
of the dicky . . . . 080
,, Taking off the side curtains, making
them waterproof, putting in 2
strong frames with glass doors,
and fixing on the curtains . . 0160
,, Cleaning the body and carriage, and
greasing the wheels . . . 030
2 new lamps, and putting them on . 3 3 o
A new floor-cloth cover for hind
boot ...... 076
,, Wax candles for the lamps . . 050
Slanee for carriage . . . . 140
£i3 18 6
Interest due on this account 6 i 6
£20 o o
637
Shelley in England
T". Charters to T. L. Peacock
6 NEW CHAPEL PLACE,
KENTISH TOWN,
August 31, 1844.
SIR,— Being a creditor of the late Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Esq., for Coachmaker's work done for him up to Novr.
1815 to the amount of £532, us. 6d. for which I hold his
Bill of Exchange drawn at Four years after date with
Judgment entered up to secure payment and not having
hitherto received any benefit from it in consequence of
the unfortunate decease of the said P. B. Shelley, Esq.,
and the non-execution of his will, I respectfully beg to
solicit your attention to my claim, and in your capacity
as Executor to that Will, crave your kind endeavours
to obtain for me some arrangement from the family now
in possession of the property by which you will be rendering
me a most essential service and which will at all times be
gratefully acknowledged, and acknowledged by, Sir, your
very obedient humble servant,
THOS. CHARTERS.
To THOS. LOVE PEACOCK.
[Addressed]
THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK, Esq.,
18 Stamford Street,
Blackfriars.
APPENDIX IV
SHELLEY'S RE-MARRIAGE IN LONDON, 1814
(see page 442)
BOND OF P. B. SHELLEY AND JOHN WESTBROOK,
dated 22 March, 1814
Stamp £1. KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that We PERCY
BYSSHE SHELLEY of the Parish of Saint George
Hanover Square in the County of Middlesex Gentleman
and JOHN WESTBROOK of the same Parish Gentleman are
holden and firmly bound to the most Reverend Father in
God, CHARLES by Divine Providence, Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury, Primate of all England and Metropolitan in
the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds of good and lawful
Money of Great Britain to be paid to the said most Reverend
Father or his certain Attorney, Successor, or Assigns ;
To which Payment well and truly to be made, we bind
ourselves, and each of us by himself, for the whole, our
executors and administrators firmly by these Presents,
Sealed with our Seals Dated the twenty second day of
March in the Year of our Lord One Thousand eight hundred
and fourteen.
The Condition of this Obligation is such, That if here-
after there shall not appear any lawful Let or Impediment
by Reason of any Precontract entered into before the
twenty fifth day of March, which was in the Year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and fifty four,1 Con-
1 By Statute 26 G. 2, c. 33, intituled " An Act for the better
preventing of Clandestine Marriages," it was enacted that all marri-
ages solemnized by License after the 25th Mar. 1754, where either
of the parties should be under 21, which should be had without the
consent of the parent of such parties under age first obtained,
should be null and void.
639
Shelley in England
sanguinity, affinity or any other cause whatsoever ; but
that the above bounden Percy Bysshe Shelley and Harriet
Shelley Minor heretofore Westbrook having been already
married may lawfully solemnise Marriage together and in
the same afterwards lawfully remain and continue for
Man and Wife, according to the Laws in that behalf pro-
vided : And moreover, if there be not at this present
time any Action Suit, Plaint, Quarrel or Demand moved
or depending before any Judge Ecclesiastical or Temporal
for or concerning any such lawful Impediment between
the said Parties Nor that either of them be of any other
Place or of better Estate or Degree than to the judge at
granting of this Licence is suggested and by him Sworn
to by and with the consent of the above bounden John
Westbrook the natural and lawful Father of the said Minor.
And if the same Marriage shall be openly solemnised
in the Church or Chapel in the Licence specified, between
the hours appointed in the Constitutions ecclesiastically
confirmed and according to the Form of the Book of
Common Prayer now by law established ; and lastly, if
the said parties do save harmless and indemnify the above
mentioned Most Reverend Father in God, his Vicar Gen-
eral, and his Surrogates and all other his Officers whatso-
ever, by reason of the Premises ; then this Obligation
to be void or else to remain in full Force and Virtue.
Signed sealed and de-
livered (having been
first duly stamped) in
the presence of
C. H. SIMS.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
JOHN WESTBROOK
640
APPENDIX V
SHELLEY'S ELOPEMENT WITH MARY GODWIN, 1814
(see page 443)
Since the greater part of this book was printed my atten-
tion has been drawn to a letter written by William Godwin
to John Taylor of Gildengate, Norwich, under the date
of November 8, 1814, in regard to Shelley's elopement
with his daughter Mary in the preceding summer. Jane
Clairmont, afterwards known as Claire, accompanied the
fugitives. It is curious to note that Godwin mentions that
Shelley and his companions stayed three weeks in Switzer-
land, whereas it is generally understood that they remained
only forty-eight hours at the chateau near Lucerne on the
borders of the Lake of the Four Cantons. The owner of
the letter, Miss Westcott, has very kindly permitted me
to print the following extract : —
" When I last wrote to you, I understood that these
unhappy girls, with their pretended protector, had fixed
their abode in Switzerland, with fifty pounds in their
pockets. How great was our surprise then on the i6th
of September to receive a letter informing us that they
were already in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square,
London ! They had taken, it seems, an old, ruinous chateau
in Switzerland ; but finding that the climate was cold, and
the situation not solitary, but surrounded with inquisitive
neighbours, at the end of three weeks, they turned round,
and travelled with the utmost expedition for England.
641 2 S
Shelley in England
This has been a cruel aggravation of our distress. Distance,
like time, tends to mitigate the anguish of human feelings ;
but with them thus as it were at our doors, and the chance
of hearing of them every hour, we cannot for a moment
lose sight of the fatal event."
Godwin then goes on to state that his wife was very
anxious to recover her daughter Jane [Claire] who was
acting from " a childish love of new things." She had
been spoken to by Godwin and by some sage friend and
had seen Fanny to no purpose. The Godwins thought
of taking the girl by force, but refrained from such a course.
All they seem to have done was to propose that Jane should
become a governess, but not liking that they proposed
that they would find a family where she should be received
on the footing of a visitor merely. Jane replied that
no consideration should part her from " her present friends,"
but she offered to comply on two conditions, viz., " that
she should in all situations openly proclaim and earnestly
support, a total contempt for the laws and institutions
of society, and that no restraint should be imposed upon
her correspondence and intercourse with those from whom
she was separated." The Godwins declined to comply with
these conditions.
642
APPENDIX VI
ABSTRACT OF DEED POLL WHEREBY P. B. SHELLEY DIS-
CLAIMED ALL INTEREST UNDER THE WILL OF HIS
GRANDFATHER SIR BYSSHE SHELLEY (see page 454)
March 1815. By a DEED POLL of this date under the hand and
seal of the said PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY AFTER
RECITING (among other things) the Will of his grandfather
Sir Bysshe Shelley (dated 1805) and a Codicil thereto
dated the 2Qth October 1811 AND AFTER RECITING that
the said Percy Bysshe Shelley not considering the benefits
conditionally conferred on him by the said Will as a
sufficient inducement for him to relinquish his Estate
tail expectant on the death of the survivor of Sir Bysshe
Shelley and his father Timothy Shelley of and in the
Manors and other hereditaments comprised in the Inden-
tures of Settlement dated 20 August 1791 and 30 September
1782 had determined not to comply with the conditions
contained in the said Codicil but to renounce and disclaim all
right under the said Will IT WAS WITNESSED that the said
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY did thereby for himself and his heirs
irrevocably renounce and disclaim unto all persons what-
soever interested in the premises all such estate benefit
and advantage whatsoever into from or out of the heredits
and premises devised and bequeathed by the said Will
of the sd. Sir Bysshe Shelley or any Codicil thereto and
from or out of the moiety of the residuary personal Estate
of the said Sir Bysshe.1
1 By the execution of this deed Percy Bysshe deprived his issue
male of the very considerable benefits which they otherwise would
have taken under Sir Bysshe's will and which benefits in consequence
passed to his brother John and his issue male. Sir Bysshe's residuary
personal estate alone amounted to ^143,675, 123. 5d., as appears
from the Chancery proceedings.
643
APPENDIX VII
ABSTRACT OF APPOINTMENT BY SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY
AND P. B. SHELLEY OF THE ESTATES DEVISED BY THE
WILL, DATED 1782, OF JOHN SHELLEY OF FIELD PLACE
13 May 1815. By INDENTURE of this date made between PERCY
BYSSHE SHELLEY of Marchmont Street Brunswick
Square of the first part SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY of the second
part and ROBERT PARKER (the brother-in-law of Timothy) of
the third part AFTER RECITING the Will of the said John
Shelley and a Fine levied by Percy Bysshe with the concur-
rence of Timothy AND AFTER RECITING that Percy Bysshe
lately proposed to Timothy that if Timothy would give him
an adequate consideration for his concurrence in exercising
a certain joint power of appointment in such manner as
would vest in Timothy the fee in the Estates devised
by the Will of John Shelley he the said Percy Bysshe
would concur in all acts necessary for that purpose AND
AFTER RECITING that on a discussion of the said proposals
of the said Percy Bysshe it was agreed between him and
his father that the consideration should consist partly
of the payment of a sum of money and partly of an Annuity
to be paid by the said Timothy AND AFTER RECITING that
Timothy and Percy Bysshe afterwards fixed the said
Annuity at £1000 AND AFTER RECITING that both the
said Timothy and Percy Bysshe had consulted with their
friends and professional advisers on various statements
made between them as to the value of the said Estate
devised by the said Will and of their interest therein and
644
Appendix VII
that they the said Timothy and Percy Bysshe having
taken the same into their consideration they had agreed
with each other that the sum of £7400 should be paid
IT WAS WITNESSED that in consideration of £7400 paid
by Timothy to Percy Bysshe and of the payment of an
annuity of £1000 to be paid by Timothy to Percy Bysshe
during the joint lives of Timothy and Percy Bysshe THEY
Timothy and Percy Bysshe (in exercise of the joint power
of appointment reserved to them) did appoint the Estates
devised by the said Will of John Shelley TO SUCH USES as
Timothy should by any deed or by his Will appoint.
645
APPENDIX VIII
ABSTRACT OF DEED WHEREBY SIR TIMOTHY SHELLEY
COVENANTED TO PAY AN ANNUITY OF £lOOO PER
ANNUM TO P. B. SHELLEY DURING THEIR JOINT LIVES
13 May 1815. BY INDENTURE of this date made between SIR
TIMOTHY SHELLEY of the first part PERCY BYSSHE
SHELLEY of the second part and the said ROBERT PARKER
of the third part AFTER RECITING (among other things)
that the said Percy Bysshe Shelley having a wife and two
children unprovided for and having contracted debts to
a considerable amount had made a certain proposal to the
said Sir Timothy Shelley and that the said Sir Timothy
Shelley had taken such proposal into consideration and as
well for the purpose of enabling the said Percy Bysshe
Shelley to make a suitable provision for his said wife and
children as for delivering him from his embarrassments
the said Sir Timothy Shelley had agreed to comply with
such proposal and to advance the said Percy Bysshe
Shelley a certain sum of money for payment of his debts
and to secure to the said Percy Bysshe Shelley payment
of an annual sum of one thousand pounds during the joint
lives of the said Sir Timothy Shelley and Percy Bysshe
Shelley IT WAS WITNESSED that the said SIR TIMOTHY
COVENANTED to pay to the said PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
during their joint lives THE ANNUAL SUM OF ONE THOUSAND
POUNDS payable in quarterly instalments on the 25th
day of March the 24th day of June the 2gth day of Sep-
tember and the 25th day of December in every year and
charged certain lands of Sir Timothy Shelley with the
payment of the said Annuity.1
1 There is no copy of this deed among the Shelley- Whitton papers.
The above abstract has been made from Longdill's affidavit in the
Shelley v. Westbrook litigation.
646
APPENDIX IX
THE INQUEST ON HARRIET SHELLEY'S BODY
(see page 476)
[Endorsement
WARRANT ON THE BODY OF HARRIET SMITH
December u, 1816
St. Margaret
List of the Jury : John Smith, Daniel Lounds, Richard
Jones, Henry Taylor, Wm. Rumbell, Thomas Bailey,
Abm. Sarvis, George Cope, Saml. House, Richd.
Tirds, Robt. Smith, Thomas Holland.]
Cityand x To the CONSTABLES OF THE PARISH OF SAINT
Liberty of I MARGARET WESTMINSTER within the Said
Westminster > to wit.
in the County ( Liberty of Westminster.
of Middlesex;
The Execution By virtue of my Office these are in his Majesty's
of this Warrant Name to charge and command you that on Sight
Schedule here^ hereof you summon & warn Twenty-four able and
to annexed sufficient Men of the said Liberty, personally to be
and appear before me on Wednesday the Eleventh
DaY of December by Twelve of the Clock at noon
of the same Day at the house of Thomas Phillips
known by the sign of the Fox Knightsbridge then and there
to do and execute all such Things as shall be given them in
Charge, on the Behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King's
Majesty touching the death of Harriet Smith and for
your so doing this is your Warrant. And that you also
attend at the Time and Place above-mentioned, to make
a Return of the names of those you shall so summon And
647
Shelley in England
further to do and execute such other Matters as shall be
then & there enjoined you, and have you then and there
this Warrant Given under my Hand and Seal this Tenth
Day of December in the year of our Lord 1816.
(Signed) JNO. HY. GELL
Coroner
[Endorsement
INFORMATION OF WITNESSES ON VIEW OF THE
BODY OF HARRIET SMITH
December n, 1816
St. Margt. Westr.
Verdict : Found dead in the Serpentine River.]
City and INFORMATION OF WITNESSES taken this eleventh day
Westminster of December One thousand eight hundred and six-
in the County teen at the House of Thomas Phillips known by the
siSn of the Fox situate in Knightsbridge in the
Parish of Saint Margaret Westminster, on view of
the Body of Hariet [sic] Smith then and there lying dead
as follows to wit —
JOHN LEVESLEY of No. 38 Dennings Alley Bishopsgate
Street Without an Out Pensr. belonging to Chelsea
Hospital being sworn saith as follows :
About 10 o'clock yesterday Morning the loth day of
December instant I was walking by the side of the Ser-
pentine on my way to Kensington and observed something
floating on the River which conceiving to be a human
Body I called to a boy on the opposite side to bring his
Boat which after some time he did to the side of the bank
of the River on which I stood. I got into the boat & found
that it was the Body of the deceased quite dead, there
appeared no sign of life and I have no doubt that the
Body must have lain in the Water some days.
(Signed) JOHN LEAVSLEY [sic]
648
Appendix IX
WILLIAM ALDER a Lodger at the Fox Public House
aforesaid, Plumber, being sworn saith as follows :
I knew the deceased she resided at No. 7 Elizabeth
Street Hans Place she was a married Woman but did not
live with her husband — she had been missing as I was
informed from her House upwards of a Month, and at the
request of her Parents when she had been absent about
a week I dragged the Serpentine River and all the ponds
near thereto without effect the deceased having for some-
time labored under lowness of Spirits which I had observed
for several months before and I conceived that something
lay heavy on her Mind. On hearing yesterday that a
Body was found I went and recognized it to be the de-
ceased— she was about 21 years of age and was married
about 5 years.
(Signed) WM. ALDER.
UANE THOMAS of 7 Elizabeth Street Hans Place, Widow,
being sworn saith as follows :
The deceased occupied the second floor in my House
she took them accompanied by a Mr. Alder, she stated
that she was a married lady & that her Husband was
abroad she took them from month to month — she had
been with me about 9 weeks on the gth of November last,
she paid her month's Rent on the Thursday preceding —
she appeared in the family way and was during the time
she lived in my House in a very desponding and gloomy
way — on the gth of November last she left my House as
I was informed by my servant Mary Jones I did not see
the deceased that day.
(Signed) JANE THOMAS.
MARY JONES, Servant to the last Witness, being sworn
saith as follows :
On Saturday the ninth of November last the deceased
breakfasted and dined in her Apartments, she told me
649
Shelley in England
previously that she wished to dine early & she dined
about 4 o'clock — she said very little, she chiefly spent her
time in Bed. I saw nothing but what was proper in her
Conduct with the exception of a continual lowness of Spirits
— she left her Apartment after Dinner which did not
occupy her more than 10 minutes — I observed she was
gone out on my going into her room about 5 o'clock that
day. I never saw or heard from her afterwards.
The x mark of
MARY JONES.
[Endorsement
INQUISITION ON VIEW OF THE BODY OF HARRIET SMITH
December n, 1816
St. Margt.< Westr.
Verdict : Found dead in the Serpentine River.]
city and \ AN Inquisition Indented taken for our Sovereign
Liberty of I Lord the King at the House of Thomas Phillips
l< '*
known by the Sign of the Fox in Knightsbridge
of Middlesex; |n foe parish of Saint Margaret Westminster
within the Liberty of the Dean and Chapter of the Col-
legiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster, in the County
of Middlesex, the Eleventh day of December in the Fifty-
seventh Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George
the Third by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith,
before John Henry Gell Esq. Coroner of our said Lord the
King for the said City and Liberty, on view of the body
of Hariet [sic] then and there lying dead,
upon the oath of the several Jurors whose names are
hereunder written, and Seals affixed, good and lawful
Men of the said Liberty, duly chosen, who being then
and there duly sworn and charged to enquire for our said
Lord the King, when, how, and by what Means the said
Harriet [sic] Smith came to her Death, do upon their
Oath say, that the said Harriet Smith on the tenth day of
December in the year aforesaid at the Parish aforesaid
650
Appendix IX
in the City Liberty and County aforesaid was found dead
in the Serpentine River, to wit near Kensington in the
Parish City Liberty and County aforesaid, that the said
Harriet Smith had no marks of violence appearing on her
body, but how or by what means she became dead, no
evidence thereof does appear to the Jurors.
In witness whereof, as well the said Coroner as the
Jurors have to this Inquisition set their Hands and Seals
the Day, Year and Place first above written.
JNO. HY. GELL
The X mark of
JOHN SMITH,
Foreman
The X mark of
HENRY TAYLOR
ABM. SARVIS
RICHARD TIRDS
DANIEL LOWNDS G.R.
Coroner
GEO. COPE
ROBT. SMITH
RICHARD JONES j G.R. )
'r*
THOS. BAILEY G.R.
APPENDIX X
SHELLEY'S MARRIAGE TO MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT
GODWIN IN 1816 (see page 488)
ALLEGATION OF P. B. SHELLEY AND WM. GODWIN
Dated 28 Deer. 1816
Vicar General's Office 28 December 1816
Which day appeared personally PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
and made Oath, that he is of the Parish of Saint Mildred
Bread Street London a Widower and intendeth to inter-
marry with MARY WALLSTONECRAFT [sic] GODWIN of the
City of Bath Spinster a minor of the age of nineteen years &
upwards but under the age of twenty one years by & with
the consent of William Godwin the natural & lawful Father
of the said minor and that he knoweth of no lawful impedi-
ment, by reason of any Precontract, Consanguinity, Affinity
or other lawful cause whatsoever, to hinder the said in-
tended Marriage, and prayed a Licence to solemnize the
same in the Parish Church of Saint Mildred Bread Street
aforesaid and further made Oath, that the usual place of
abode of the appearer hath been in the said Parish of Saint
Mildred Bread Street for the space of four weeks last past.
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY
Then appeared personally the said WILLIAM GODWIN
and made Oath that he is the natural & lawful Father of
the said minor & freely consents to the above intended
marriage.
W. GODWIN
Sworn before me, S. PARSON. Sur —
652
Appendix X
BOND OF P. B. SHELLEY AND W. GODWIN
Dated 28 Deer. 1816
Stamp £1. KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS that We PERCY
BYSSHE SHELLEY of the Parish of Saint Mildred Bread
Street London Gentleman & WILLIAM GODWIN of the City
of Bath Gentleman are holden and firmly bound to the
most Reverend Father in God, CHARLES, by Divine Provi-
dence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all
England, and. Metropolitan, in the sum of Two Hundred
Pounds of good and lawful Money of Great Britain to be
paid to the said most Reverend Father, or his certain
Attorney, Successor, or Assigns : To which Payment well
and truly to be made, we bind ourselves, and each of us
by himself, for the whole, our executors and adminis-
trators firmly by these Presents Sealed with our Seals
Dated the twenty eighth day of December in the Year of
our Lord One Thousand Eight hundred and sixteen.
The condition of this Obligation is such, That if here-
after there shall not appear any lawful Let or Impediment
by Reason of any Precontract entered into before the
twenty fifth day of March, which was in the Year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and fifty four, Con-
sanguinity, Affinity or any other Cause whatsoever ; but
that the above bounden Percy Bysshe Shelley a Widower
& Mary Wallstonecraft [sic] Godwin Spinster a Minor may
lawfully solemnize Marriage together and in the same after-
wards lawfully remain and continue for Man and Wife,
according to the Laws in that behalf provided ; And
moreover, if there be not at this present Time any Action,
Suit, Plaint, Quarrel, or Demand, moved or depending
before any Judge, Ecclesiastical or Temporal for or con-
cerning any such lawful Impediment between the said
Parties Nor that either of them be of any other Place, or
of better Estate or Degree than to the Judge at granting
653
Shelley in England
of this Licence is suggested and by him sworn by & with
the consent of the said William Godwin the natural &
lawful Father of the said Minor.
And if the same Marriage shall be openly solemnized in
the Church or Chapel in the License specified, between the
Hours appointed in the Constitutions ecclesiastically con-
firmed, and according to the Form of the Book of Common
Prayer, now by Law established ; and, lastly, if the said
parties do save harmless and indemnify the above men-
tioned Most Reverend Father in God, his Vicar General,
and his Surrogates, and all other his Officers whatsoever,
by Reason of the Premises ; then this Obligation to be
void or else to remain in full Force and Virtue.
Signed sealed and de- PERCY B YSSHE SHELLEY
livered (having been
first duly stamped) in
the presence of
JNO. MATTHEWS. W. GODWIN
654
APPENDIX XI
MARRIAGE OF IANTHE ELIZA SHELLEY TO EDWARD
JEFFRIES ESDAILE (see page 515)
/. Gregson to Sir Timothy Shelley
July 29, 1837.
DEAR SIR TIMOTHY,— Mr. Esdaile is the eldest son of the
eldest son of old Mr. Esdaile of the late firm of Esdaile &
Co. the bankers of Lombard St. Mr. Esdaile, the father
of the intended, had a considerable property on his mother's
side. His father the banker also, I believe, settled a large
sum upon him. He was never in business and consequently
escaped the recent misfortune. He has lived as a country
gentleman in Somersetshire, and is, I believe, a very
estimable person, and his son will make a very respectable
match for the young lady upon whom report says that
Mr. Beauchamp intends to bestow a fortune. I have it
stated that Mr. Edward Esdaile has £4000 per annum, but
my own impression is that this is an exaggeration. — We
were certainly beaten by bribery at Leominster. I did not
know that Mr. Greenaway was a connection of Mr. Hurst.
He cannot retain his seat if the affair be followed up.—
Yrs., etc.,
J. GREGSON.
SIR T. SHELLEY, Bart.
655
Shelley in England
Mrs. Parker to Sir Timothy Shelley
6 CIRCUS, BATH,
December 13, 1837.
MY DEAR BROTHER,— lanthe1 and Mr. Esdaile lunched
with me. She seemed very well and very happy— he
behaved perfectly like a gentleman and very attentive
to his wife. They were going to Bristol that evening to
visit her Aunt before she returned to her own home. She
promised to write to me, but I have never heard a word
of or from her since, and Mr. Esdaile said he would remind
her to write as soon as she got home. Spoke much of the
pleasure they had in their visit at Field Place, but Mr.
Beauchamp was going to London upon business and wished
to see them before he went and she said we must not dis-
appoint him. . . .—Your affectionate sister,
H. PARKER.
1 In September 1837 Eliza lanthe Shelley (Shelley's eldest child
by his first wife Harriet), then of Watford House, Somerset, was
married to Edward Jeffries Esdaile, the younger son of E. J. Esdaile
the elder, of Cothelbestone House, Somerset.
On her marriage she settled the legacy of ^6000 bequeathed to
her by the will of her father.
656
SHELLEY'S MS. NOTE-BOOK
2 T
SHELLEY'S MS. NOTE-BOOK *
TRELAWNY states that when he left Leghorn on August 13, 1822,
and went on board Byron's boat the Bolivar to superintend
the burning of the bodies of Shelley and Williams, he "had
previously engaged two large feluccas, with drags and tackling,
to go before, and endeavour to find the place where Shelley's
boat had foundered." Having ascertained the spot where the
Ariel had last been seen afloat, they succeeded in finding
her, but failed to get her up. Trelawny wrote to Captain
Roberts, who was at Genoa, and asked him to " complete the
business." Roberts was successful in bringing the boat to
the surface, and he anchored her off Via Reggio. On Sep-
tember 1 8, he wrote to Trelawny to say that by Byron's
advice he had sold the Ariel by auction, and she realised a
trifle more than two hundred dollars, and he had divided the
proceeds with the crew of the felucca who had been employed
in getting her up. Out of the hull, he said, " we fished clothes,
books, spyglass, and other articles. We found in the boat two
memorandum-books of Shelley's quite perfect, and another
damaged, a journal of Williams' quite perfect, written up to the
4th July. I washed the printed books ; some of them were so
glued together by the slimy mud that the leaves could not be
separated; most of these are now in Ld. B.'s custody. The
letters, private papers, and Williams' journal, I left in charge of
Hunt, as I saw there were many severe remarks on Ld. B." 2
The note-book, now under examination, may be the one
referred to by Captain Roberts as damaged. It has passed
successively through the hands of Mary Shelley, Sir Percy Shelley,
and Jane, Lady Shelley, to its present owner, Sir John C. E.
Shelley. Photographs have been made of every page of the
book, and from these pages I have endeavoured to give a faithful
transcription. The difficulties of this task will be realised by
an examination of the facsimiles. It is obviously a note-book
1 The copyright of the contents of this book is reserved by Sir John
C. E. Shelley.
* Trelawny's Recollections.
659
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
in which Shelley used to jot down the rough ideas of his
poems. I have attempted to arrange the pages in something
approaching order. From the contents it would seem to have
been used by Shelley during the year 1821.
The passages and words within square brackets in the tran-
scripts, show Shelley's cancellations.
A DEFENCE OF POETRY
[This essay was to have consisted of three parts, the first
of which only was written by Shelley early in the year 1821.
It was designed as a reply to an article entitled " The Four
Ages of Poetry," contributed by Thomas Love Peacock to
the first number of Oilier 's Literary Miscellany. This periodical,
for which A Defence of Poetry was intended as a contribution,
was discontinued, and a manuscript of Shelley's article came
into the hands of John Hunt, with a view to its insertion in
The Liberal. Hunt went over the manuscript and deleted
any references to Peacock's article, but before it could be
printed The Liberal ceased publication at the fourth number.
It was not until 1841 that Mrs. Shelley, having regained
possession of the MS., printed the Defence, for the first time,
in Shelley's Essays and Letters from Abroad. The passages
deleted by Hunt were not restored by Mrs. Shelley, and they
remained unprinted until M. A. H. Koszul re-edited the essay
from two of Shelley's MSS. now in the Bodleian, for his little
volume of Shelley's Prose in the Bodleian Library. One is
a draft which shows, like the following pages of Adonais,
the author's careful method of composition. The other is
apparently the fair copy that was sent to Oilier on March 21,
1821. The copy of the portion of the essay in Shelley's note-
book occupies twenty-five pages, each page being distinguished
in the present transcript by roman figures, I to XXIV, and a
rider numbered XlA. The manuscript is beautifully and clearly
written, and the pages which it occupies are fortunately
among those that have escaped damage. One leaf, between
pages XII and XIII, is missing, but the text, to preserve con-
tinuity, has been supplied in italics. One of the notes deleted
by Hunt occurs in the manuscript on pages XIX and XX,
and many variations are noted in the footnotes.]
Hence the fame of sculptors, painters, and musicians,
although the intrinsic powers of the great masters of these
arts may yield in no degree to that of those who have em-
660
A Defence of Poetry
ployed language as the hieroglyphic of their thoughts, has
never equalled that of poets in the restricted sense of the
term ; as two [I x] performers of equal skill, will produce
unequal effects from a guitar and a harp. The fame of legis-
lators and founders of religions, so long as their institutions
last,2 alone seems to exceed that of poets 3 in the restricted
sense ; but it can scarcely be a question,4 whether, if we deduct
the celebrity which their flattery of the gross opinions of the
vulgar usually conciliates, together with that which belonged
to them in their higher character of poets, any excess 5 will
remain.
We have thus circumscribed the meaning of the 6 word
Poetry within the limits of that art which is the most familiar
and the most perfect expression of the faculty itself. It is
necessary, however, to make the circle still narrower, and to
determine the distinction between measured and unmeasured
language ; for the popular division into prose and verse is
inadmissible [II] in accurate philosophy. Sounds as well
as thoughts have relation both 7 between each other and
towards that which they represent, and a perception of the
order of those relations has always been found connected with
a perception of the order of the relations of 8 thoughts. Hence
the language of poets has ever affected a certain uniform and
harmonious recurrence of sound, without which it were not
poetry, and which is scarcely less indispensable to the com-
munication of its actions,9 than the words themselves, without
reference to that peculiar order. Hence the vanity of trans-
lation ; 10 it were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that
you might discover the formal principle of its colour and
odour, as seek to transfuse from one language into another
the creations of a poet. The plant must spring again from
[III] its seed, or it will bear no flower — and this is the burthen
of the curse of Babel.
An observation of the regular mode of the recurrence of this ll
harmony in the language of poetical minds, together with
its relation to music, produced metre, or a certain system of
traditional forms of harmony and language. Yet it is by
1 The first page of the MS. begins here.
2 remain has been deleted. 3 who inserted and deleted.
4 that inserted and deleted. 5 would deleted.
6 the meaning of the inserted. 7 among inserted and deleted.
8 that deleted. 9 effects cancelled and actions inserted.
10 Shelley wrote here and cancelled for it is not translation to create anew.
11 this inserted.
661
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
no means essential that a poet should accommodate his language
to this traditional form, so that the harmony, which is its
spirit, be observed. The practice is indeed convenient and
popular, and to be preferred, especially in such composition
as includes much form and l action : but every great poet
must inevitably innovate upon the example of his predecessors
in the exact structure of his peculiar versification. The dis-
tinction between poets and prose writers is a vulgar error.
The distinction between [IV] philosophers and poets has been
anticipated. Plato was essentially a poet — the truth and
splendour of his imagery, and the melody of his language,2 is
the most intense that it is possible to conceive3 : he rejected
the measure of the epic, dramatic, and lyrical forms, because
he sought to kindle a harmony in thoughts divested of shape
and action, and he forebore to invent any regular plan of
rhythm which should 4 include, under determinate forms, the
varied pauses of his style. Cicero sought to imitate the cadence
of his periods, but with little success. Lord Bacon was 5 a
poet.* His language has a sweet and majestic rhythm,
which satisfies the sense,6 no less than the almost superhuman
wisdom of his philosophy satisfies the intellect ; it is a strain
which 7 distends, and then bursts [V] the circumference of
the hearer's 8 mind, and pours itself forth together with it
into the universal element with which it has perpetual sym-
pathy. All the * authors of revolutions in opinion are not
only necessarily poets as they are inventors, nor even as their
words unveil the 10 permanent analogy of things by images
which participate in the life of truth ; but as their periods
are harmonious and rhythmical, and contain in themselves
the elements of verse ; being the echo of the eternal music.
Nor are those supreme poets, who have employed traditional
forms of rhythm on account of the form and action of their
subjects, less capable of perceiving and teaching the truth
of things, than those who have omitted that form. Shake-
speare, Dante, and Milton (to confine ourselves to modern
writers) are philo-[VI]-sophers of the very loftiest power.
* See the Filum Labyrinth!, and the Essay on Death particularly
[Shelley's note].
1 form and inserted. 2 is in MS.
3 concieve in MS. The sentence runs on in the MS.
4 should in MS.
5 Shelley began to write essentially], but cancelled the word.
6 and therefore cancelled. 7 fills and cancelled.
8 hearer's in MS. * great inserted and cancelled.
10 real cancelled and permanent inserted.
662
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H
A Defence of Poetry
A poem is the l image of life expressed in its eternal truth.
There is this difference between a story and a poem, that a
story is a catalogue of detached facts, which have no other
connection than time, place, circumstance, cause and effect ;
the other is the creation of actions according to the unchange-
able forms of human nature, as existing in the mind of the
Creator, which is itself the image of all other minds. The
one is partial, and applies only to a definite 2 period of time,
and a certain combination of events which can never again
recur ; the other is universal, and contains within itself the
germ of a relation to whatever 3 motives or actions 4 have
.place in the possible varieties of human nature. Time, which
destroys 5 the beauty and the use of the story [VII] of particular
facts, stripped of the poetry which should invest them, augments
that of poetry, and for ever develops new and wonderful
applications of the eternal truth which it contains. Hence
epitomes have been called the moths of just history ; they
eat out the poetry of it. The 6 story of particular facts is as
a mirror which obscures and distorts that which should be
beautiful : Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that
which is distorted.
The parts of a composition may be poetical, without the
composition as a whole being a poem. A single sentence
may be considered as a whole, though it 7 be found in 8 a
series of unassimilated portions ; a single word even may be
a spark of inextinguishable thought. And thus all the great
historians, Herodotus, Plutarch, Livy, were poets ; and
although the plan of their works,9 especially that [VIII] of
Livy, restrained them from developing this faculty in its
highest degree, they make 10 copious and ample amends for
their subjection, by filling all the interstices of their subjects
with living images.
Having determined what is poetry, and who are poets, let
us proceed to estimate its effects upon society.
Poetry is ever accompanied with pleasure : all spirits on
which it falls open themselves to receive the wisdom which
is mingled with its delight. In the infancy of the world,
neither poets themselves nor their auditors are fully aware
1 very not in MS. a condition inserted and cancelled.
3 thoughts inserted and cancelled. * which cancelled.
5 the value cancelled • The in MS.
7 may not in MS. 8 the midst of not in MS.
9 their works in MS. 10 make in MS.
663
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
of the excellency l of poetry : for it acts in a divine and un-
apprehended manner, beyond and above consciousness ; and
it is reserved for future generations to contemplate and
measure the mighty cause and effect in all the strength and
splendour of their union. Even in modern times, no living
[IX] poet ever arrived at the fulness of his fame ; the jury
which sits in judgment on 2 a poet, belonging as he does to all
time, must be composed of his peers : 3 it must be impanneled
by Time 4 from the selectest of the wise of many generations.
A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to
cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds ; his auditors are
as men entranced by the melody of 5 an unseen musician,
who feel that they are moved and softened, yet know not
whence or why. The poems of Homer and his contemporaries
were the delight of infant Greece ; they were the elements of
that social system which 6 is the column upon which all suc-
ceeding civilisation has reposed. Homer embodied the ideal
perfection of his age in human character ; nor can we doubt
that those [X] who read his verses were awakened to an
ambition of becoming like to Achilles, Hector, and Ulysses :
the truth and beauty of friendship, patriotism, and persevering
devotion to an object, were unveiled to the depths in these
immortal creations : the sentiments of the auditors must
have been refined and enlarged by a sympathy with such great
and lovely impersonations, 7 until from admiring they imitated,
and from imitation they identified themselves with the objects
of their admiration. Nor let it be objected, that these char-
acters are remote from moral perfection, and that they can
by no means be considered as edifying patterns for general
imitation. Every epoch, under names more or less specious,
has deified its peculiar 8 errors ; Revenge is the naked idol
of the worship of a semi-barbarous age ; and Self-deceit is
the veiled Image of unknown evil, [XI] before which 9 luxury
and satiety lie prostrate. But a poet considers the vices of
his contemporaries as the 10 temporary dress [in] u which his
creations 12 must be arrayed, and which cover without con-
cealing the eternal proportions of their beauty. An 13 epic or
excellency in MS. 2 on in MS.
and they inserted and cancelled. * out cancelled.
an invisible cancelled.
was one of the inserted and cancelled.
A word inserted here and cancelled. 8 vices inserted and cancelled.
the cancelled. 10 peculiar cancelled.
1 in inserted and cancelled. 12 are to cancelled.
1J poetical cancelled.
664
A Defence of Poetry
dramatic personage is understood to wear them around his
soul, as he may the ancient armour or the modern uniform
around his body ; whilst it is easy to conceive a dress more
graceful than either. The beauty of the internal nature cannot
be so far concealed by its accidental vesture, but that the
spirit of its form shall communicate itself to the very disguise,
and indicate the shape it hides from the manner in which it
is worn. A majestic form and graceful motions will express
themselves l through the most barbarous and tasteless costume.
[XlA] Few poets of the highest class have chosen to 2 exhibit
the beauty of their conceptions in its naked truth and splendour;
and it is doubtful whether the alloy of costume, habit, etc.,
be not necessary to temper this planetary music for mortal
ears.
The whole objection, however,3 of the immorality of poetry
rests upon a [XIIJ misconception of the manner in which
poetry acts to produce the moral improvement of man.
Ethical science arranges the elements which poetry has created,
and propounds schemes and proposes examples of civil and
domestic life : nor is it for want of admirable doctrines that
men hate, and despise, and censure, and deceive, and subjugate
one another. But poetry acts in another and diviner manner.
It awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering it the
receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of
thought. Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the
world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not
familiar ; it reproduces all that it represents, and the im-
personations clothed in its Elysian light stand thenceforward
in the minds of those who have once contemplated them,4
as memorials of that gentle and exalted content which extends
itself over all thoughts and actions with which it coexists. The
great secret of morals is love ; or a going out of our nature, and
an identification of ourselves with the beautiful which exists in
thought, action, or person, not our own. A man, to be greatly
good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively ; he must
put himself in the place of another and of many others ; the
pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The
great instrument of moral good is the imagination ; and poetry
administers to the effect by acting upon the cause. Poetry en-
larges the circumference of the imagination by replenishing it
1 upon cancelled. 2 paint cancelled.
3 which inserted and cancelled.
4 A page is missing from the MS. here ; the text, in italics, is supplied
from Mrs. Shelley's version.
665
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
with thoughts of ever new delight, which have the power of attract-
ing and assimilating to their own nature all other thoughts, and
which form new intervals and interstices whose void for ever
craves fresh food. [XIII] Poetry strengthens the faculty which
is the organ of the moral nature of man, in the same manner
as exercise strengthens a limb. A poet therefore would do
ill to embody his own conceptions of x right and wrong, which
are usually those of his place and time, in his poetical creations,
which participate in neither. By this assumption of the
inferior office of interpreting the effect, in which perhaps after
all he might acquit himself but imperfectly, he would resign
the 2 glory of 3 a participation in the cause. There was little
danger that Homer, or any of the eternal Poets, should have
so far misunderstood themselves as to have abdicated this
throne of their widest dominion. Those in whom the poetical
faculty, though great, is less intense, as Euripides, Lucan,
Tasso, Spenser, have frequently affected a moral aim, and
the effect of their [XIV] poetry is diminished but 4 in exact
proportion to the degree in which they compel us to advert
to this purpose.
Homer and the cyclic 5 poets were followed at a certain
interval by the dramatic and lyrical Poets of Athens, who
nourished contemporaneously with all that is most perfect
in the kindred expressions of the poetical faculty ; archi-
tecture, painting, music, the dance, sculpture, philosophy,
and we may add, the forms of civil life. For although the
scheme of Athenian society was deformed by many imper-
fections which the poetry existing in chivalry and Christianity
have 6 erased from the habits and institutions of modern
Europe ; yet never at any other period has so much energy,
beauty, and virtue been developed ; never was blind strength
and stubborn form so disciplined and rendered subject to the
will of man, or that will [XV] less repugnant to the dictates
of the beautiful and the true, as during the century which
pieceded the death of Socrates. Of no other epoch in the
history of our species have we records and fragments stamped
so visibly with the image of the divinity in man. But it is
Poetry alone, in form, in action, or in language, which has
rendered this epoch memorable above all others, and the store-
house of examples to everlasting time. For, written poetry
1 moral deleted. 2 the in MS.
3 of in MS. 4 but in MS.
5 and religion deleted. 6 have in MS.
666
A Defence of Poetry
existed at that epoch simultaneously with the other arts, and
it is an idle enquiry x to demand which gave and which re-
ceived the light, which all as from a common focus, have
scattered over the darkest periods of succeeding age.2 We
know no more of cause and effect than a constant conjunction
of3 events. Poetry is ever found to coexist with whatever
other arts contribute to the happiness and perfection of man.
I appeal to what has [XVI] already been established to dis-
tinguish between the cause and the effect.
It was at the period here adverted to, that the Drama had
its birth ; and however a succeeding writer may have equalled
or surpassed those few great specimens of the Athenian drama
which have been preserved to us, it is indisputable that the
art itself never was understood or practised according to the
true philosophy of it, as at Athens. For the Athenians em-
ployed language, action, music, painting, the dance, and
religious institutions, to produce a common effect in the
representation of the highest idealisms of passion and of
power ; each division of 4 the art was made perfect in its
kind by artists of the most consummate skill, and was disci-
plined into a beautiful proportion and unity 5 one towards
the other. [XVII] On the modern stage a few only of the
elements capable of expressing the image of the poet's con-
ception are employed at once. We have tragedy without
music and dancing ; and music and dancing without the high 6
impersonations of which they are the fit accompaniment, and
both without religion and solemnity ; 7 religious institution
has indeed been usually 8 banished from the stage. Our
system of divesting the actor's face of a mask, on which the
many expressions appropriated to 9 his dramatic character
might 10 be moulded into one permanent and unchanging
expression, is favourable only to a partial and inharmonious
effect ; it is fit for nothing but a monologue, where all the
attention may be directed to some great master of ideal mimicry.
The modern practice of blending comedy with tragedy, though
[XVIII] liable to great abuse in point of practise,11 is un-
doubtedly an extension of the Dramatic circle ; but the comedy
should be as in King Lear, universal, ideal, and sublime. It is
enquiry in MS. 2 age in MS.
certain cancelled. * o/in MS.
among each other inserted and cancelled. 8 high in MS.
The sentence runs on in the MS.
completely inserted and cancelled,, 9 the deleted.
10 should is deleted. " practise in MS.
667
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
perhaps the intervention of this principle which determines
the balance in favour of King Lear against the QEdipus Tyrannus
or the Agamemnon, or, if you will, the trilogies with which
they are connected ; unless the x intense power of the choral
poetry, especially that of the latter, should be considered
as restoring the equilibrium. King Lear, if it can sustain
this comparison, may be judged to be the most perfect specimen
of the dramatic art existing in the world ; in spite of the narrow
conditions to which the poet was subjected by the ignorance
of the philosophy of the drama 2 which has prevailed in modern
Europe. Cal-[XIX]-deron, in his religious Autos, has 3 at-
tempted to fulfil some of the high conditions of dramatic
representation neglected by Shakespeare ; such as the estab-
lishing a relation between the drama and religion, and the
accommodating them to music and dancing ; but he omits
the observation of conditions still more important, and more
is lost than gained by the substitution of the rigidly defined
and ever-repeated idealisms of a distorted superstition for
the living impersonations of the truth of human passion.
But we 4 digress. — 5 The Author of the 4 Ages of Poetry has
prudently omitted to dispute on the effect of the Drama upon
life and manners. For, if I know the Knight by the device
of his shield, I have only to inscribe Philoctetes or Agamemnon
or Othello upon mine to put to flight the giant sophisms [XX]
which have enchanted them, as the mirror of intolerable light
though on the arm of one of the weakest of the Paladins could
blind and scatter whole armies of necromancers and pagans.
The 6 connection of scenic exhibitions 7 with the improvement
or corruption of the manners of men, has been universally
recognised ; in other words,8 the presence or absence of poetry
in its most perfect and universal form has been found to be
connected with good and evil in conduct or habit. The
corruption which has been imputed to the drama as an effect,
begins, when the poetry employed in its constitution, ends :
I appeal to the history of manners whether the gradations •
of the growth of the one and the decline of the other have not
corresponded with an exactness equal to any other 10 [XXI]
example of moral cause and effect.
1 superior cancelled. 2 art cancelled.
8 fulfilled in cancelled. * we in MS.
6 This paragraph, down to the word pagans, which had special reference
to Peacock's essay on the " Four Ages of Poetry," was omitted by
Mrs. Shelley when she first printed Shelley's Defence.
6 the effect of the inserted and cancelled. * in deleted.
8 that deleted. • gradations in MS. w other in MS.
668
A Defence of Poetry
The drama at Athens, or wheresoever else it may have
approached to its perfection, ever coexisted with the moral
and intellectual greatness of the age. The tragedies of the
Athenian poets are as mirrors in which the spectator beholds
himself, under a thin disguise of circumstance, stript of all
but that ideal perfection and energy which every one feels
to be the internal type of all that he Loves, admires, and
would become. The imagination is enlarged by a sympathy
with pains and passions so mighty, that they distend in their
conception the capacity of that by which they are conceived ;
the good affections are strengthened by pity, indignation,
terror and sorrow ; and an exalted calm is prolonged from
the satiety of this high exercise of them into [XXII] the tumult
of familiar life : even crime is x disarmed of half its honor
and all its contagion by being represented as the fatal conse-
quence of the unfathomable agencies of nature ; error is thus
divested of its wilfulness ; 2 men can no longer cherish it as
the creation of their choice : in a drama of the highest order
there is little food for censure or hatred ; it teaches rather
self-knowledge and self-respect. Neither the eye nor the
mind can see itself, unless reflected upon that which it resembles.
The drama, so long as it continues to express poetry, is as a
prismatic and many-sided mirror, which collects the brightest
rays of human nature and 3 divides and reproduces them
from the simplicity of these elementary forms, and touches
them with majesty and beauty, and multiplies all that it
reflects, and endows it with the power of [XXIII] propagating
its like wherever it may fall.
But in periods of the decay of the 4 social life, the drama
sympathises with that decay. Tragedy becomes a cold
imitation of the form of the great masterpieces of antiquity,
divested of all harmonious accompaniment of the kindred
arts ; and often the very form misunderstood, or a weak
attempt to teach certain doctrines, which the writer considers
as moral truths ; and which are usually no more than specious
flatteries of some gross vice or weakness, with which the
author, in common with his auditors, are infected. Hence
what has been called the classical and domestic drama.
Addison's Cato is a specimen of the one ; and would it were
not superfluous to cite examples of the other ! To such
purposes poetry cannot be made subservient. Poetry [XXIV]
1 divested deleted. 2 The sentence runs on.
s and divides them deleted ; and divides written again. * the in MS.
669
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
is a sword of lightning, ever unsheathed, which consumes
the scabbard that would contain it. And thus we observe
that all dramatic writings of this nature are unimaginative
in a singular degree ; they affect sentiment and passion,
which, divested of imagination, are other names for caprice
and appetite. The period * in our own history of the grossest
degradation of the drama is the reign of Charles II., when all
forms in which poetry had been accustomed to be expressed
became hymns to the triumph of kingly power over liberty
and virtue. Milton stood alone illuminating an age unworthy
of him.
" ADONAIS "
[Shelley employed himself, at Pisa, during the months of
May and June 1821, in writing Adonais. In a letter to
his friends the Gisbornes, written early in June, he says : " I
have been engaged these last days in composing a poem on
the death of Keats, which will shortly be finished ; and I
anticipate the pleasure of reading it to you, as some of the
very few persons who will be interested in it and understand it.
It is a highly-wrought piece of art, and perhaps better in
point of composition, than anything I have written." That
he ranked the poem highly we may gather, as he also told
Miss Clairmont, in a letter of June 8, that it was better than
anything that he had written, and " worthy both of him
[Keats] and of me." On the same date he informed Oilier,
his publisher, that he had finished the poem, and that it
consisted of about forty Spenser stanzas, which were to
be preceded by a criticism on Hyperion. Shelley did not
fulfil his intention of writing this criticism or of publishing
the poem in London, but sent the MS. on June 16 to press
at Pisa, where it was printed handsomely " with the types
of Didot." On July 13 he presented a copy, the only one
that had been delivered, to John and Maria Gisborne.
The notes for the preface that follow occupy fourteen pages
of the note-book, and in the transcript I have numbered them
with Roman figures. A few passages were printed in The
Relics of Shelley, 1862, by Dr. Richard Garnett, who adopted
his own arrangement. None of the cancelled fragments of
1 of cancelled.
670
Preface to " Adonais v
Adonais printed in the same volume by Dr. Garnett were
derived from the present manuscript. The following early
draft of the poem, which is now printed for the first time, is not
only interesting as showing the steps by which Shelley built
up his elegy, but as revealing here and there passages worthy
of preservation. One page, marked XVII in the fascimile,
and a few lines on other pages of the MS. I have failed to
decipher. Most of the pages bearing these notes for the poem
are in a very imperfect and damaged condition. The text
of each stanza as printed by Shelley is given in italics.]
SHELLEY'S PREFACE TO "ADONAIS"
[I] No personal offence should have drawn from me this
public comment upon such stuff as ...
Keats came to Italy ... I knew personally but little of
Keats having met him two or three [? times] at my friend
Hunt's, but on the news of his situation I wrote to him sug-
gesting the propriety of trying the Italian climate and inviting
him to join me. His answer to my letter was . . . Unfortu-
nately he did not allow me . . .
Since however this notice has been [II] wrested from me
[? by] indignation and [sympathy] my pity I will allow myself a
first and last word on the subject of calumny as it relates to
me [and now all further public discussions must be closed] . As
an author I have dared and invited censure ; [my opinions] if I
understand myself I have written neither for profit nor fame.
I have [sought to erect a sympathy between my species and
myself] employed my poetical compositions and publications
simply as the instruments of that sympathy between myself
and others which the ardent and unbounded love I [felt]
cherished for my kind incited me to acquire. I expected all
sorts of stupidity and insolent contempt from these . . .
[III] These compositions (excepting the tragedy of the
Cenci which was written in a hurry rather to try my powers
than to unburden my full heart) are [wretchedly inadequate]
insufficiently . . .
[IV] . . . commendation than perhaps they deserve ; even
from their bitterest enemies ; but they have not attained any
corresponding popularity. As a man, I shrink from notice
and regard ; the cea[seless] ebb and flow of the world vexes
me ; My habits are simple I know. I desire to be left in
peace. I have been the victim of a monstrous and unheard
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
of tyranny. I am the victim of a despotic power which
has violated in my home the rights of nature and has [V]
stooped into the region where such as hell-[ . . . ] [animal]
a slave can breathe. I think it necessary to hang out a
bloody flag where the tyger [. . .] has made his meal of Liberty.
Reviewers, with some rare exceptions are in general a most
stupid and malignant race ; as a bankrupt thief turns thief-
taker in despair ; so an unsuccessful Author turns Critic
and punishes others of that . . .
There are honest and honorable men among Reviewers
no doubt, but these will be foremost . . .
[VI] The shaft which this Parthian shot, fell on a heart
[cased in] made callous by many blows, but poor Keats's
was composed of more penetrable stuff. — The Endymion was
a poem in which a critic will find indeed much to condemn,
but was there nothing to applaud ? Were there no traces
of a sublime genius mingled with errors of taste and obscurity
of purpose ? Could the critics who found the Revd. Mr.
Somebody's Paris sublime because it flattered their masters,
and who wrote with complacence of Mr. Gatty [VII] Knight's
Syrian Tale — because it was published at Murray's who printed
Mr. Milman's drama of Jerusalem a mere well-written imitation
of [Kehama] Southey, and the everlasting poetry of Lord Byron
that they — who talk with patience of such drivelling as Brutus
and Evadne — could they find nothing to commend in the
Endymion ? At what gnat did they strain here, after having
swallowed all those camels ? Mr. Southey and Mr. Gifford
well know what true poetry is ; Mr. Southey, especially, who
has edited the remains of Kirke White, knows ; they could
not have been mistaken with respect to the indications afforded
by portions of this poem of such astonishing descriptive power
which they will have observed in the Hyperion. Surely such
[VIII] men as these hold their repute cheap in permitting to
their subordinate associates so great a licence, not of praise
which can do little mischief, but of censure which may destroy
— and has destroyed one of the noblest specimens of the work-
manship of God. It shall be no excuse to the murderer that
he has spoken daggers but used none.
The offence of this poor victim seems to have consisted
solely in his intimacy with Leigh Hunt, Mr. Hazlitt and some
others of the enemies of despotism and superstition. My
friend Hunt has a very hard skull to crack, and would take
a deal of killing. I do not know much of Mr. Hazlitt, but . . .
[IX] [Mr.] Keats was the chosen intimate of [Hunt] Leigh
672
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vs i ' ' • • 1* v\ j ^ « -s
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Preface to " Adonais ':
Hunt and Mr. Hazlitt and other enemies of despotism and
superstition. The Quarterly Review has . . .
Mr. Gifford I believe . . . learned . . .
The Editor of this Quarterly Review in particular amongst
[many persons] of the most splendid accomplishments and the
most honourable minds certainly has in his employment the
most malignant and accomplished slanderers. But I should
have hated him had he ventured on any . . . insinua-
tion that ever prostituted his soul for twenty pounds per
sheet.
[X] The bigot will say it was the recompense of my errors,
the man of the world will call it the result of my imprud-
ence [but never was calumny heaped in so profuse a measure
upon any head as upon mine]. Persecution, contumely and
calumny have been heaped upon me in profuse measure. I have
[been made the victim of a tyranny . . .] domestic conspiracy
and legal oppression combined have violated in my person
the most sacred rights of nature and humanity, . . . [my
health . . .] and the chastening of my spirit.
[XI] The scheme of such writers is to extinguish . . .
But in the present instance the merits and the demerits,
the truth and falsehood of the case were [so carefully en-
tangled . . .] But a young mind panting after fame is the most
vulnerable prey : he is armed neither with philosophy . . .
[But let it be considered that an animat[ed ?] But a young
spirit panting for fame, doubtful of its own powers and certain
only of its aspirations, is but ill [qualified] fitted to assign
its true value to the sneers of this world.
[XII] [The Endymion merited . . .]
[His happiness is in the present.]
He knows not that such stuff as this is of the abortive and
monstrous Births which Time consumes as fast as it produces.
He sees the truth and falsehood, the merits and demerits of
his case inextricably entangled.
[XIII] It may well be said that these wretched men know
not what they do. These midwives of the dross and abortions
which time consumes as fast as it produces : scatter their
insults and their slanders without heed as to whether they
light on a heart made callous by many blows or on one like
Keats's composed of more penetrable stuff. One of them
to my knowledge is ...
Was Endymion a poem whatever might be its defects to be
spoken of contemptuously by those who had celebrated with
various degrees of complacency and panegyric Paris and
673 2 U
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
Woman and a Syrian Tale, and Mrs. Lefanu and Mr. Barrett
and Mr. Milman ?
[XIV] What gnat did they strain at here after having
swallowed all these camels ? What is the woman taken in
adultery against whom the foremost of these literary prostitutes
has cast his venal stone ? Miserable man, [thou] you who art
one of the meanest have destroyed one of the noblest speci-
mens of the workmanship of God. Nor shall it be your excuse
that [you have] murderer as you are, you have spoken daggers
but used none.
674
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Shelley's MS. Note-Book
DRAFTS OF AN ITALIAN POEM, OR POEMS
[I am indebted to Mr. R. A. Streatfeild for the transcripts
and translations of these verses, which do not appear to have
been published. Trelawny assured Mr. W. M. Rossetti very
positively that Shelley originally wrote the Epipsychidion in
Italian. Is it possible that these lines form a portion of such
a design which he may, or may not, have completed ?]
Dal spiro della tua
La chiara fronte, le labbra amorose
La guancia dal cadente sole tinta
Gli occhi, ove spento tempo posa
Sono imagini dei tuoi in tutta vita
Quella T odor tu la stessa rosa
Questo la ombra al sostegno
La tua venuta aspettando
la vita va mancando.
From the breath of thy
The clear brow, the amorous lips,
The cheek tinted by the setting sun,
The eyes, where past time reposes,
Are images of thine in full life
This is the fragrance, thou the rose herself
This shadow in support
Thy coming expecting
life fades away.
Ah non pianger, no quaggiu non posso
Ah, weep not, here below I cannot
Dal dura prigione della passata
Dal vano pentimento e vana passione
Dal alta speme mai non compita
Dalle fantasmi che dal memoria vengon
Inspirando sogni del presente ora
O dalle ombre che il futuro anno
Getta davanti . . .
Dalla morte moriendo.
688
CO
Is
O X
0
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
From the cruel prison of the past,
From vain repentance and vain passion,
From the lofty hope that never was fulfilled,
From the phantasms that come from memory,
Inspiring dreams of the present hour :
O from the shades that the coming year
Throws in advance . . .
From death dying
Cosl vestiva in barbari accent!
II vero affetto . . . un' armonia.
So have I clad in barbarous accents
The true affection ... a harmony.
Oh non piango, s' io pianger devo
II riflusso della sua onda in un
Dove si preparebbe fabricarci
Un queto asilo, lontan di ogni pena
Scioglerq un . . . sul purpureo Oceano cielo
Un queto asilo, che . . . quando
0 I weep not, if I should weep
The refluence of her wave in a
Where might be prepared for us
A quiet refuge far from all pain
1 will loose a ... on the purple
A quiet refuge, where . . . when
La tua venuta nelle isole eterne
Non pianger no ...
la refluente stretta
Mi porto a quel porto dove si aspettamo
In questo asilo . . .
Thy coming into the eternal isles
Weep not, no ...
— the refluence quick
I take myself to that port where we await each other
In this refuge . . .
689 2 X
Shelley's MS. Note-Book
Non mi fu conceduto qui
La rapida Peara
-vj . , /conceduto
1 \ dato d* aggiungere il voto
Non cercherei
II cielo
Non mai avremo al di 13, di morte
Cosi arcato al di la di morte
Un Paradiso, dove tu non stai
It was not granted me here
The rapid Peara (?)
I given us to win our prayer
I would not seek
Heaven
We shall never possess on the far side of death
Thus -f
A Paradise, where thou standest not
TO EMELIA VIVIANI
Send the stars bright,
Send not love to me
withered
Where it has blighted a bosom white
Send the stars bright, but send not love to me
In whom love ever made
like
Health [as a heap of] embers soon to fade.
[In a heart is vowed]
That heart [was] e'er vowed to tears
When love was long delay
As by a of living fire
[For] Then more than this wealth
To crown with love and health.
690
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Madonna wherefore hast thou sent to me
Sweet basil and mignonette
[Alas and with]
[Embleming health which never yet]
Embleming love and health which never yet
In the same wreath might be —
Alas, and they are wet
And is it with thy kisses or thy tears ?
For [it is not with dew]
never rain or dew
Such fragrance drew
From leaf or flower, the very doubt endears
[ sighs]
My sadness ever new
The sighs I breathe the tears I shed for thee.
[On another sheet Shelley has written some phrases which
appear in his lines to Emelia Viviani, and he scribbled, in a
feigned hand, the name of Shakespeare three times, and that
of Milton twice.
The piece of manuscript on the smaller sheet, which has been
reproduced on this plate, does not belong to the MS. note-book.
It is the portion of Shelley's draft of " A Satire on Satire" :
this and another leaf are in the collection of Sir John ' C. E.
Shelley. The fragment was first printed by the late Professor
Dowden in the Correspondence of Robert Southey and Caroline
Bowles, 1880, and subsequently by other editors.]
69!
INDEX
ABERNETHY, Dr. John, 212,
523 n.
Abingdon (Oxford), 147
Address to the Irish People, An,
Shelley's, 377~9, 383
Adonais, Shelley's, 670-87
Aickin, Mrs., nee Shelley, 451
Alastor, Shelley's, 463
Alder, William, 477, 479
Allegra (daughter of Lord Byron
and Miss Clairmont), 521-2,
528-9, 531
Amory, Mr., 412, 449, 592-7
Amos, Andrew, 57
Angeli, Mrs., 541
Ariel, the, 542, 659
Arun Cottage, 17
Arundel Castle (Sussex), 12, 16
Atlantic Monthly, 480 n.
Austen, Jane, 73-4
Avington Park (Hants), 13, 26
BALDWIN & Co., 463
Ballantyne & Co., 75-6
Barruel, Abbe, 185
Bath, Shelley at, 469-74
Battle Abbey (Sussex), i
Beauchamp, Eliza. See West-
brook
Beauchamp, Farthing, 512, 575,
655
Beauclerc, Lady Diana, 89
Beddoes, Thomas Lovell, 576
Bedford, Rev. W. K. R., 192
Bell, Mr., 500
Benbow, W., 617
Bethell, Rev. George, 53-4, 66-7,
71
Bird, Mr., 147, 631, 632
Bishopsgate (Windsor), Shelley
at, 455
Blackburn, Mr., 461
Blackwood's Magazine, 578
Bodleian Library (Oxford), 85
Boinville, M. de, 408
Boinville, Mrs., 407-8,411,418-9,
422, 428-30, 441
Bowen, Charles, 589
Bowen, Elizabeth. See Shelley
Bowles, W. L., 94
Bowley, Mrs., 342
Bracknell (Bucks), Shelley at,
407-8, 419-21, 428
Brentford (Middlesex), 34, 46,
49
Brighton (Sussex), 189, 524
British Critic, 84, 99, 125
British Review, 84
Broadbridge Heath, 22
" Brooke, Arthur." See Claris,
J. C.
Brougham and Vaux, Henry
Brougham, ist Lord, 183
Browne, Felicia Dorothea. See
Hemans, Mrs.
Browning, Robert, 617-8
Buffon, George Comte de, 315
Burdett, Sir Francis, 77
Burdon, Richard, 172
Burney, Fanny. See D'Arblay
Bury, Lady Charlotte, 121, 126,
192-3, 196
Byron, Lord, 80, 140 n., 558
his English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers, 212-3
an admirer of Shelley's poetry,
410
692
Index
Byron, Lord, first meeting with ' Clairmont, Clara Mary Jane, ac
Shelley at Geneva, 467, 623
Shelley's bequest to, 470-3,
571
his liaison with Miss Clairmont,
521-2, 529
and the guardianship of his
child Allegra, 531-2
at Ravenna, 539
joins Trelawny at Pisa, 541
executor of Shelley's will, 550
his kindness to Mary Shelley
after the poet's death, 561
appeals to Sir Timothy on
behalf of Mary Shelley,
562-9
his letter to Sir Timothy
Shelley, 563
his letter to Leigh Hunt, 569
Byron, Mrs. (Charlotte Dacre or
" Rosa Matilda "), 47, 85
CALVERT, RAISLEY, 361
Calvert, William, 361-2, 377,
409
Calvert, Mrs., 377, 409
Cambridge, Sidney Sussex Col-
lege, 19 ; Trinity College,
616
Campbell, Thomas, 75, 80, 288
Cappuccini, I', Shelley at, 533
Carpenter & Son, 463
Carter, William, 517
Castle Goring (Sussex), 15-7
Castlereagh, Lord, 149
Cavendish, Lord George, 414
Cenci, The, Shelley's, 535
Century Magazine, 399
Chapel Street (Grosvenor Square),
companies Shelley and Mary
on their flight to the Con-
tinent, 438-40, 444, 641-2
remains with the Shelleys in
London, 445-6
again visits the Continent
with Shelley and Mary
466
Shelley's bequest to, 471
and Shelley's marriage to
Mary, 488-90
goes to Marlow with the Shel-
leys, 518, 527
her liaison with Byron, 521—2
and the guardianship of Alle-
gra, 531-2
at Florence with the Shelleys
536
present at Sir Percy Shelley's
baptism, 540
and Shelley's death, 547
joins her brother Charles at
Vienna, 560
Mary Shelley's kindness to,
568
Clapham (Surrey), Miss Fen-
ning's school at, 90-2, 95,
265, 269, 271-2, 277
Claris, J. C., "Arthur Brooke"
558
Clark, Mrs. Brodie, 35
Clarke, R., 220-1, 233-6, 238-
41, 621
Clewer, 58
Coleridge, Edward, 66 n.
Coleridge, Sir John Taylor, 60-2
66 n.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 288,
359, 464, 617
265, 267-9, 273, 301, 304, I Coleridge, Mrs. S. T., 359
307, 401-2, 478, 516
Chapuis, Maison, 623
Cheale, Mary. See Michell
Cheeseborough, Rev. Jacob, 506
Chesterfield, Philip Stanhope,
Earl of, 20
Clairmont, Charles, 376, 547
Clairmont, Clara Mary Jane, 376,
449, 562, 623,
Coleridge, Hon. Stephen, 61-2
Collingwood & Co., 282
Copleston, Rev. Edward, 196,
203
Cornwall, Barry. See Procter
Cory, William, 53-4, 60, 66
Covent Garden Theatre, 31 n.
Critical Review, 85
Crofts, Miss Margaret L., 399
693
Shelley in England
Cuckfield (Sussex), 276, 280,
284, 328, 332, 390
Gumming, William, 308, 310
Cunningham, Peter, 516 n.
Curran, Amelia, 586, 617
Curran, John Philpot, 385
Curteis, T. J. Horsley, 46
Cwm Elan (Radnorshire), 94,
286, 292-8, 392-3
DACIER, ANDRE, 132
Dacre, Charlotte. See Byron,
Mrs.
Dallaway, Rev. Edward, 172
D'Arblay, Madame, 67-8
Dare, Mr., 360
Dayrell, Rev. John, 124 n., 161
Defence of Poetry, Shelley's, 660-
670
De Quincey, Thomas, 359
Desse, Mr., 307, 457, 459-61
Dobell, Bertram, 75, 78, 557
Dodson, Christopher, 241
Dowden, Professor, 20, 35, 50 n.,
54, 56, 60, 134, 143 n., 151,
185, 202, 208, 257, 297,
301 n., 305, 475, 500, 515,
523> 535. 616
Dublin, Shelley in, 377-87, 400-1
Dublin Press, 149
Dublin Weekly Messenger, 150,
379. 383, 385
Du Cane, Peter, 451, 460
Duke, Sir James, 22
Dunn, Mr., 307
EATON, DANIEL ISAAC, 491
Edgecumbe, Richard, 80
Edge worth, Maria, 73
Edinburgh Literary Journal, The,
76-8
Edinburgh, Shelley at, 305-6,
308-25, 361, 409
Edwards, Rev. Evan, 32, 134,
514
Effingham Place (Sussex), 21
Eldon, John Scott, ist Earl of
(Lord Chancellor), 205, 462,
492, 502-6
Ellenborough, Edward Law, Earl
of, 491
Ellesmere (Shropshire), 260
Epipsychidion, Shelley's, 688
Esdaile, Charles, 291, 384, 515
Esdaile, E. J., 515, 655-6
Esdaile, (Mrs) lanthe Elizabeth
(daughter of Shelley and
Harriet), 402, 409, 420,
442, 471-2, 475, 484, 486-7,
490-516, 655-6
Etheridge, Allen, 368-71
Eton College, 44, 48, 51-71, 79,
82-4, 153, 189, 204
Examiner, The, 183-4, 464. 51?.
545. 547. 549
FABER, REV. GEORGE STANLEY,
159, 232-4, 236, 238
Penning, Miss, 90, 265, 269
Fen Place (Sussex), 2
Ferguson, James C., 308 n.
Fettes, J., 310
Field Place, 4, 7, 21-23, 68, 72,
84, 93, 125, 135, 140, 143,
154, 165, 167, 188, 204, 213,
229-33, 245, 261, 264, 276,
278, 281, 283-8, 329, 337
Finnerty, Peter, 121-2, 149-51,
164, 183, 254, 382
Florence, Shelley at, 536-9
Forman, Mr. H. Buxton, C.B.,
208, 500 n., 541, 570
his The Shelley Library, 291
Franklin, Benjamin, 66 n., 170
Eraser's Magazine, 17, 77, 86,
555
GAMBO, PIERRINO, 571
Garnett, Dr. Richard, 99, 100,
135 n., 627
Cell, John Henry, 476
Genoa, 54
Gentleman's Magazine, 557-8
George III, 9, 119
George IV, 288-91
Gessner, Solomon, 82, 89
Gibbon, Edward, 131
Gibson, Jane. See Jane, Lady
Shelley
694
Index
Gibson, Thomas, 624
Gisborne, Mrs., 547, 560, 617
Globe, The, 191
Godwin, Fanny (Imlay), 376,
473-4
Godwin, Mary Jane, formerly
Mrs. Clairmont, 375, 386,
4°6, 439, 44°, 446, 473,
487-90, 611
Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft,
375-6, 432-3, 558, 608
Godwin, Mary W. See Shelley
Godwin, William, 191, 349, 406,
460, 530, 553, 558, 615
Shelley's second letter to God-
win, quoted, 64, 74, 80
his novel, St. Leon, 85, 124
his Political Justice, 132, 180-2,
375, 386, 493
his ingratitude to Shelley,
140 n.
his novel, Caleb Williams,
182
his dislike of entails, 246
his opinions on marriage, 275,
487
Shelley begins a correspond-
ence with, 372
his interest in Shelley, 374,
385-6
his work and pursuits and
publications, 375 et seq.
Shelley's pecuniary assistance
to, 413, 431, 446-9, 521-2
and Shelley's elopement with
Mary, 445, 466, 486, 641-2
his gratification at his daughter
Mary's marriage to Shelley,
488-9, 653-4
visits the Shelleys at Marlow,
518, 526
and the death of Shelley,
546-7
and Frankenstein, 572
his last days, 607-8
his will, 611-2
Goodall, Dr., 51-2
Gordon, Mr., 524
Graham, Mr., 223, 340
Graham, Dr., 13
Graham, Edward Fergus, 31 n.,
84, 90-2, 97, 120, 191-2,
214-6, 282, 290, 299, 340-3,
352
Graham, Sir James, 219
Graham, William, 632
Gray, Thomas, 32, 54, 58
Great Russell Street, Shelley at,
529
Grece, Dr. Clair J., 188
Greenlaw, Dr., 36-8, 49, 512-3
Greenlaw, Mrs., 36
Greenlaw, Miss, 36
Gregson, Mr., 482, 614, 616, 618,
623-4
Grenville, William Wyndham,
Lord, 204-5
Grey, Earl, 608
Greystoke (Cumberland), 12
Griffith, Dr., 197-203
Gronow, Captain, his Recollec-
tions, 52, 54-5, 57~8> 63
Grove, Rev. C. H., 257-8
his early recollections of Shel-
ley, 49-50, 107
and Shelley's attachment to
his sister Harriet, 93-4
Shelley attends lectures with,
212
goes to the Forum Club with
Shelley, 259
visits the Westbrooks, 265,
300-1
and the Prince Regent's fate, 291
and Shelley's elopement with
Harriet, 304-5
Grove, Mrs. Charlotte, 93, 95, 282
Grove, Charlotte, 93, 98
Grove, George, 49
Grove, Harriet (Mrs. Heyler),
266, 292
Shelley's attachment for, 93-5
Shelley presents a copy of
Victor and Cazire to, 98
and Shelley's religious opinions,
138-9
ends her engagement to Shel-
ley, 139-43, 155, 157, 159,
207
Shelley's lines to, 520
695
Shelley in England
Grove, John, 28, 94, 211-2, 229,
259-62, 287, 301-2 n., 307,
4°3
his letter to Sir Timothy
Shelley, 230-1
Grove, Thomas, 50 n., 84, 93-4,
292
HALLIDAY, WALTER S., his re-
collections of Shelley, 58,
70
Hamilton, Lady, 13
Hamilton, Rachel, 517
Hanson, John, 562-6
Harding, Rev. John, 540
Hargrove, Rev. Charles, 557 n.
Harrow, 49
Hawkes, Miss, 269
Hazlitt, William, 106, 376, 518
Helme, W., 46
Hemans, Mrs., 79, 80, 286
Hexter, Mr., 53, 57, 71
Heyler, Mr., 142-3 n.
Heyler, Mrs. See Harriet Grove
Higham, John, 490, 496, 499
Hill, Rowland, 159, 260
Kitchener, Elizabeth, 273 n.
extracts from Shelley's letters
to, 15, 212, 258, 288-9,
299, 301 n., 324, 327-8;
333, 339 n., 343, 366, 390-1,
450
makes Shelley's acquaintance,
280
Shelley's first letter to, 293 n.
informed by Shelley of his
marriage to Harriet, 327,
4.83
invited to visit the Shelleys,
328, 356, 372, 390
told by Shelley of Hogg's
perfidy, 354-6
extract from Harriet's letter
to, 378
fined on receiving Shelley's
pamphlet, 379, 383
visits the Shelleys at Lyn-
mouth, 394, 554
leaves the Shelleys, 396-7,
554
Kitchener, Elizabeth, her repre
sentatives' claim on Sir
Timothy, 550-4
her career after leaving the
Shelleys, 555-7
Kitchener, Thomas, 556
Hobbs, Mr., 150, 186-7
Hodgkins, Miss, 36
Hogg, John, 165, 316, 326, 333-6,
347
his letter to Sir Timothy
Shelley, 334
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson, 50 n.,
69, 7°, 79, 93 n., 257-8,
261-2
and Shelley's remarks on Sir
Bysshe, 13-4, 17
his comments on Shelley's
sisters, 25-6
and Shelley's microscope, 48
on Shelley's "popularity" at
Oxford, 55
on the term Atheist, 59, 60
on Shelley's love of chemistry,
64-5, 108-13, I52, *89
discusses German and Italian
literature with Shelley, 87-8,
103-4
goes to Oxford, 102
his description of Shelley,
103-7
life with Shelley at Oxford,
113-7, 174-7
and the poems of Victor and
Cazire, 118-21
on Shelley's hatred of cruelty,
128
on Shelley's frugal habits, 129
on Shelley's love of study,
130-2, 187-8
shares Shelley's scepticism,
132-8, 152, 157-9
Shelley's letters concerning
Harriet Grove to, 138, 141,
155, 157
and Shelley's sister Elizabeth,
143-4, 284-7
his literary attempts, 145-8
Stockdale's bad impression of,
161-6
696
Index
Hogg, Thomas Jefferson, and Sir
Timothy, 165
expelled with Shelley from
Oxford, 199-205, 215
shares lodgings with Shelley
in Poland Street, 206-13
Sir Timothy attempts to sepa-
rate Shelley from, 217-20,
242
meets Sir Timothy, 222-4, 34°
peace proposals by Shelley
and, 231-40
leaves Shelley, 240, 245, 260
and Shelley's friendship with
Harriet Westbrook, 270-3,
277-8, 296, 299
his opinion on marriage, 274-5,
300
Shelley interests his mother
in, 293
and Shelley's suggested meet-
ing at York, 297
gives pecuniary help to Shel-
ley, 299, 305
joins the Shelleys at Edin-
burgh, 312-6
returns to York in company j
with the Shelleys, 323-7
his treachery in Shelley's ab- i
sence, 353-6
his dislike of Eliza Westbrook, !
357-8
extract of letter from Shelley ;
concerning Miss Kitchener, ;
397
extract of letter from Mrs. \
Boinville to, 418, 430
letter to Stockdale, 163
Shelley's bequest to, 471
told of Shelley's death, 546
visits Mary Shelley, 607
Holbach, Baron d', 132
Holbeach, 56
Holcroft, Thomas, 225, 612
Holste, Mr., 550, 552, 554
557
Hookham, Thomas, 394, 400-1
406, 430, 436, 445-7. 474~8
486, 627
letter to Shelley, 474
Horsham (Sussex), 7, 14, 93,
173, 285, 293, 301, 361, 452
Houghton-le-Spring (Durham) ,
306-7
Howell, Mr., 554
Hughes, Mr., 45-6 n.
Hume, Dr., 491 n., 506-11
Hume, Mrs., 508-11
Hume, David, 132, 170, 187
Hunt, John, 183, 545, 561, 576,
584 n.
Hunt, Leigh, 256, 495, 529-30,
558, 586
on Shelley's fits of temper,
62
his descriptions of Shelley, 127
on Shelley's letter to Lord
Castlereagh, 149-50
and The Examiner, 183-5, 464
his sympathy for Shelley on
Harriet's death, 484-5
his circle of friends, 517-8
visits Shelley at Leghorn, ac-
companied by his family,
542
receives Shelley's heart from
the burning embers, 543
on Shelley's death, 545-8
his guests at Pisa, 560
and Shelley's Posthumous
Poems, 584
visits Mary Shelley, 607
and Mary Shelley's edition of
Queen Mab, 621
Shelley's bequest to, 624
his letter to Elizabeth Kent,
| . 545
Lord Byron's letter to, 569
Mary Shelley's letter to, 619
i Hunt, Mrs. Leigh, 505, 517-8,
530, 560, 620,
' Hurst, Mr., 227
Hurstpierpoint (Sussex), 280
i Hyndman, Mrs. H. M., 21
IMLAY, FANNY. See Godwin
Imlay, Gilbert, 376
Intellectual Observer, 556
| Isleworth (Middlesex), 34
697
Shelley in England
JAMES I, 2
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 117
Jones, Gale, 259
Jordan, Mrs., 10 n., 59
Julian and Maddalo, Shelley's,
535
KAMES, HENRY HOME, LORD, 170
Keate, Dr. John, 51-3, 56
Keats, John, 464, 517, 529, 534,
617
his Lamia, 544-5
Keith, Rev. Alexander, 9, 10
Keith's Chapel (Curzon Street), 9,
10
Kelsall, Thomas Forbes, 577
Kendall, Rev. John, 505-6
Kennedy, Captain, 414-7
Kent, Elizabeth, 544-7, 680
Keswick, Shelley at, 355-77
Kew, 59
King, Dr. Henry, Bp. of Chi-
chester, 35
King, Dr. John, Bp. of London,
35
King, Mr., 147
Kinglake, A. W., his Eothen,
5i-2
Kirkup, Seymour, 570
Knight's Quarterly Magazine, 578
Koszul, M., 85
his La Jeunesse de Shelley, 287,
291
LAMB, CHARLES, 106, 375-6,
500, 607
Lamb, Mary, 375, 529, 607
Lane, Mr., 45
Lang, Andrew, 134
Laon and Cythna, Shelley's, 519,
520
La Rochefoucauld, Fra^ois,
Due de, 20
Lawless, John, 385
Lawrence, William, 523 n.
Leatherhead (Surrey), 172
Lee, Mr., 45-6 n.
Leghorn, Shelley's house, Villa
Valsovano, at, 535-6
Leicester, Robert Dudley, Earl
of, 19
Lerici, Shelley at, 626
Leslie, Rev. Edward, 56
Leslie, Rev. Robert J., 56
Letter to Lord Ellenborough ,
Shelley's, 393
Leversley, John, 478
Lewis, Mathew Gregory
("Monk"), 73, 75, 89, 97,
100
Liberal, The, 561
Lido, Shelley and Byron on the,
532
Lightfoot, Hannah, 9
Lind, Dr. James, 67-70, 79,
140 n., 180
L'Isle and Dudley, Philip Charles
Sidney, ist Baron de, 10-11
L'Isle and Dudley, Lady Sophia
de, 10 n.
Locke, John, 132, 163, 168, 170,
187
Longdill, P. W., 467, 491-2 n. ,
500, 505-6, 523-5, 629,
646 n.
Longman & Co., Messrs., 83
Louis XVIII, 443
Lovell, Robert, 359
Lovell, Mrs., 359
Lubbock, Sir J. W., 511
Lyceum Theatre, 31 n.
Lynmouth, Shelley at, 393-4,
554
Lytton, Bulwer, Lord, 607
MACARTHY, REV. CHARLES, 529
MacCarthy, D. F., 148, 383, 557 n.
Mackintosh, Sir James, 416-7
Macmillan's Magazine, 136 n.
Maginn, W., 77
Mahoney, Father, 77
Malone, John, 3 n.
Marchmont Street (London),
Shelley at, 465
Margaret Nicholson, Posthumous
Fragments of, Shelley's poem,
117-122
Margaret Street (Cavendish Sq.),
Shelley at, 445, 641
698
Index
Marlow (Bucks), 73; Shelley at,
474, 516, 518-27
Marshall, Miss, 124 n.
Marshall, Mrs. Julian, her Life
and Letters of Mary W.
Shelley, 547 n., 565, 598
Mary, Queen of Scots, i
Matthews, Charles, 30
Matthews, Judge Henry, 62 n.
Medwin, Thomas, 4, 68, 124 n.,
282, 481 n.
his recollections of Sir Bysshe,
13, 18
on Sir Timothy, 19
and the derivation of the
poet's name, 21 n.
on Shelley's childhood and
early days, 27, 32, 72-5
at Syon House Academy with
Shelley, 34, 36-8, 43-5,
59
on Shelley's dancing, 49
on Shelley's early writings, 77-
80, 83, 85, 89
his description of Harriet
Grove, 94-5
and The Necessity of Atheism,
191
on Shelley's expulsion from
Oxford, 208-11
attends Surrey Chapel with
Shelley, 260
helps Shelley in pecuniary
matters, 360, 387-8
Mr. Forman's edition of his
Life of Shelley, 541 n.
on Miss Kitchener, 555
and Mary Shelley, 607
Medwin, Thomas Charles, 34, 65,
80, 301, 346, 362, 384
Merle, William Henry, 386
Michelgrove (Sussex), 2
Michelgrove, John, 2
Michell, Ann. See Slyford
Michell, Edward, 7-8
Michell, John, 8
Michell, Katherine. See Shelley
Michell, Mary (nee Cheale, mar-
ried ist Timothy Shelley,
2nd John Michell), 8
Michell, Mary Catherine. See
Shelley
Michell, Richard, 7, 22
Michell, Rev. Theobald, 7
Milton, John, 450
Minerva Press, 45-7
Mirabaud, J. B., 132
Monson, William John Monson,
6th Lord, 71, 83
Montagu, Charles, 500
Montgomery, Robert, his Oxford,
195, 206 n.
Montpensier, Due de, 26
Moore, Thomas, 80, 607
Morning Chronicle, 49, 289, 382,
5°°, 548
Morning Post, 96
Morphett, Mr., 491 n.
Morris, Charles, 12
Morrison, Mrs. Alfred, 90
Morrison, Rev. W., 614
Mount Coffee House, 316
Mount Street (Grosvenor Sq.),
304
Moxon, Edward, 620-2
Munday, Joseph, 101-2, 117, 122,
144-5, 147, 282
Munday & Slatter, 186-7, I93-4.
633
Murray, John, 463, 519, 561
Murray, Patrick, 308, 310
NANTGWILT (Radnorshire), Shel-
ley at, 387
Napoleon, 143
Nash, Andrew John, 413, 444,
461
Nash, George Augustus, 413,
448, 461
Neale, Gibbons, 86 n.
Necessity of Atheism, The,
Shelley's pamphlet, 188-97
Newark (New Jersey), 3
" Newspaper Editor," 86-7, 89
Newton, Cornelia. See Turner
Newton, Sir Isaac, 168, 170
Newton, John Frank, 407-8
Newton, Mrs., 402, 407-8
Nineteenth Century, 71 n.
Norbury, P., 46
699
Shelley in England
Norfolk, Charles Howard, nth
Duke of, 10-1, 93, 257-8,
344-5, 348, 360-2, "396,
4°3-5
" North, Christopher," 359
Northcote, James, 612
Norton (Durham), 102, 165, 219,
221, 233
Nugent, Catherine, 395, 406, 447,
554
OLLIER, CHARLES, 519, 576
Opie, John, 611-2
Original Poetry by Victor and
Cazire, 96-100
Owen, Hugh, 635
Owenson, Miss, 288
Oxford, Bodleian Library, 55,
456, 544
Christ Church, 121, 192
Magdalen College, 131, 175
New College, 193
Oriel College, 172, 196
University College, 19, 55, 88-
90, 101-51, 195-205, 213-21,
233, 240, 281, 283, 288, 363,
373, 452, 455-6, 55$
Oxford Herald, 120, 150, 191
PACKE, CHARLES WILLIAM, 57,
83
Paine, Thomas, 160
Paley, William, 20, 134, 168,
220, 224, 279
Parker, Robert, 124, 220-30, 656
Parsons, Mrs., 46
Parthenon, Shelley's poem, 171-3
Paul, Mrs., 604
Peacock, Thomas Love, 396 n.,.
400, 442, 529
on Shelley's voice, 106-7
and Harriet Grove's marriage,
142
his novels, 145 n.
and Shelley's expulsion from
Oxford, 199, 200
his description of Harriet
Westbrook, 265-6
his friendship with Shelley,
409-10
Peacock, Thomas Love, on Shel-
ley's love for lanthe, 426
on Shelley's separation from
Harriet, 436-7, 486
Shelley corresponds with, 444
Shelley's bequest to, 471-2
and Charles Shelley's illness,
513-4
and Sir Percy Shelley's bap-
tism, 540
co-executor with Byron to
Shelley's will, 550
and Mary Shelley's allowance
from Sir Timothy, 574-5,
585-6, 588
and the publication of Shelley's
Posthumous Poems, 581-5
visits Mary Shelley, 607
and the dedication to Harriet
in Queen Mab, 621
his letter to Sir Timothy
Shelley, 552
his letter to Whitton, 583
Pechell, Captain George Richard,
16-7
Penshurst, 10, 21, 450, 452
Perry, Elizabeth, 10
Perry, William, 10
Peyton, Mr., 298
Philipps, Mr., 382
Philipps, Janetta, 152, 281-3, 286
Phillips, Barclay, 188
Phillips, C. & W., 96, 188, 193-4,
282
Phillips, Philadelphia, 189
Pilfold, Charles, 21
Pilfold, Charlotte. See Grove.
Pilfold, Elizabeth. See Lady
Shelley
Pilfold, Capt. John, 260, 264,
276-7, 279-80, 301, 311-2,
316, 318, 324, 337-43, 349,
366, 391, 522-5, 551
Pilfold, Mrs. John, 390
Pisa, Shelley at, 540-2, 561, 621
Plum, Mrs. Johanna. See Shelley
Pocahontas, Princess, 35
Poetical Essay on the Existing
State of Things, Shelley's,
152-159
700
Index
Poland Street (Oxford St.), 207-
55, 260, 264, 269, 273, 340
Polidori, Dr. John William, 140 n.
Political Register, The, 99, 149
Pool, Lady Ferdinand, 21
Pope, Alexander, 508
Porter, Jane, 207
Posthumous Poems, Shellev's,
576-85
Powell, John A., 482, 511-2
Price, — , Shelley's friend at
Eton, 58
Prior, James, 177
Procter, Bryan Walter (Barry
Cornwall), 576
Prometheus Unbound, Shelley's,
535
Quarterly Review, 60, 578
Queen Mab, Shelley's, 79, 133,
151, 400-402, 405-7, 467,
558, 621
RADCLIFFE, ANN, 47, 73
Rebecca, Biagio, 16
Redmarshall (Durham), 233
Reeve, Clara, 73
Rennie, Sir John, 38, 41
Revolt of Islam, The, Shelley's,
519, 520
Reynolds, John Hamilton, 464,
517-8
Richmond (Surrey), 59
Ridley, C. J., 197, 201-2
Roberts, Captain, 542-3
Roberts, William, 396 n., 633-4
Robertson, Rev. James, 309-10
Robinson, J., 82-4, 146, 148
Robinson, Julia, 598-9, 604
Rogers, Samuel, 45 n.
Rome, William Shelley's grave
at, 534-5
Keats's grave, 534
Shelley's grave at, 544
Romilly, Sir Samuel, 501
Romney, George, 95
" Rosa Matilda." See Mrs. Byron
Rossetti, William Michael, 85,
86 n., 140-1 n., 343 n., 557
Rossini, 529-30
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 148,
170
Ryan, Major, 436
SADLER, Dr., 134
Saintsbury, George, 99
St. Giles in the Fields, 529
St. George's, Hanover Square,
265, 357 n., 422-4, 482
St. Irving's, 93
St. Irvyne, Shelley's novel, 85,
87, 89, 123-6
St. John, Hon. Charles Robert,
624
St. John, Hon. Mrs. C. R. See
Shelley
St. Mildred's, Bread St., Shelley's
marriage at, 488-9, 653-4
St. Pancras, 608-9
Sala, Signer, 49
Schubart, Christian Daniel, 74,
79, 88
Scott, Sir Walter, 74-6, 158 n.,
288
his letter to Shelley, 80-2,
89
Sergison, Colonel, 29
Serpentine, the, 476-9
Seymour, Mr., 6
Shakespeare, 508
Sharpe, Charles Kirkpatrick,
I2I-2, 125-6, 148-9, 192-3,
196
Shelley, Bysshe (d. 1733), 4
Shelley, Sir Bysshe (the poet's
grandfather), 25
inheritance from his grand-
parents, 4-6
his first marriage to Mary
Catherine Michell, 6, 7, 9,
10
and Field Place, 7, 8
second marriage to Elizabeth
Jane Sidney, 10
baronetcy conferred on, n
his character and tastes, 11-5,
17-8
builds Castle Goring, 15-8
his attitude towards religion,
133
701
Shelley in England
Shelley, Sir Bysshe (the poet's
grandfather), and Shelley's
expulsion from Oxford, 237-
238, 33i
and Shelley's elopement, 301-3
Shelley appeals for help to,
331, 392
visited by Shelley, 337-8
consulted on Shelley's mone-
tary affairs, 411-2
his death, 449-50
his will, 451-;, 460-2, 465,
643
his letter to Whitton, 237
Shelley, Charles Bysshe (son of
the poet and Harriet), 447-8,
456-61, 471, 486, 490-514
Shelley, Clara Everina (daughter
of the poet and Mary), 519,
528-9, 534
Shelley, Edward (d. 1588), 2
Shelley, Edward (b. 1670), 4, 8,
453, 614
Shelley, Elizabeth, Lady (nee
Pilfold), the poet's mother,
93-4, 229-31, 319, 329, 405,
her marriage to Timothy
Shelley, 21
displeasure at Shelley's scepti-
cism, 160-5, 1 68, 174
her interest in Hogg, 293-4
and her daughter Elizabeth's
reported engagement, 340-4
Shelley, Elizabeth (the poet's
sister), 25-6, 90-3, 96, 140,
142-4, 147, 159-60, 215,
230, 261, 278-80, 282-7, 402
Shelley, Elizabeth, nee Bowen,
589
Shelley, Harriet, first meeting
with Shelley, 265
her beauty, 265-6, 313
returns to school, accompanied j
by Shelley, 269, 271-2
is shocked at Shelley's scepti-
cism, 272-3
agrees to fly with Shelley, 297
elopes with Shelley to Edin-
burgh, 304
her life at Edinburgh, 312-23
Shelley, Harriet, goes to York
with Shelley and Hogg, 323-5
left in Hogg's charge during
Shelley's temporary absence,
332-4
Hogg's advances to, 353-6
her affection for her sister
Eliza, 357-8
life at Keswick, 358
dines with the Duke of Nor-
folk, 361
and Miss Kitchener, 390-1,
395
becomes acquainted with the
Godwins, 398
birth of her first child, lanthe,
402, 426
dedication to, in Queen Mob,
406, 424-5, 500-1, 621
her dislike of Mrs. Godwin, 406
at Bracknell, 407
remarried to Shelley at St.
George's, Hanover Square,
422-4
gradual estrangement and
separation between Shelley
and, 426-31, 435-7, 493,
495
invited by Shelley to visit
Switzerland, 441-3
visited by Shelley, 445
birth of her son Charles, 447-8
Shelley allows ^200 a year to,
454, 498-9
asks Shelley for a further
allowance on behalf of her
children, 456-60, 468-9
Shelley's bequest to, 471, 475,
485
her death, 474
account of the inquest on, 476-
86, 647-51
reference in Laon and Cythna
to, 520
her letter to Hookham, 430
extract from her letter to
Miss Nugent, 395, 406, 447,
554
Shelley, Hellen (the poet's great-
great-grandmother), 2, 5, 6
702
Index
Shelley, Hellen (the poet's sister)
(b. 1796), 25
Shelley, Hellen (the poet's sister)
(b. 1799), 25-33, 50, 65 n.,
jo, go, 93, 97-8 n., 107 n.,
265-6, 272, 282, 368-71, 388
Shelley, Hellen (the poet's aunt).
See Parker
Shelley, Johanna (the poet's
great-grandmother), 3
Shelley, John (1537), 2
Shelley, John (bap. 1666) (the
poet's great-great-grand-
father), 2-4
Shelley, John (bap. 1696), 4, 8
Shelley, John (bap. 1729) (the
poet's great-uncle), 3, 8,
246, 405, 449, 453-4
Shelley, John (the poet's brother),
25-7. 539, 549, 588-91
Shelley, Sir John, ist Bart., 2
Shelley, Sir John Courtown
Edward, 6th Bart, v, viii,
590 n.
Shelley, Katherine (m. 1664), 7
Shelley, Margaret (the poet's
sister), 25, 30
Shelley, Mary, nee Cheale. See
Michell
Shelley, Mary (the poet's sister) ,
25, 90, 265
Shelley, Mary Catherine, nee
Michell, 7, 453
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,
the poet's second wife, 376
on Shelley at Eton, 56
first meets Shelley, 398
plights her troth to Shelley in
St. Pancras Churchyard, 433
lines by Shelley to, 433-4,
608-9
Shelley's sudden passion for,
436-7
her elopement with Shelley,
438, 486, 493, 495
her History of a Six Weeks'
Tour through a Part of
France, Switzerland, Ger-
many, and Holland, 444
return to London, 445-6
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,
birth and death of her first
child, 454
birth of her first son at Wind-
sor, 455
her influence on Shelley, 462
en route for Geneva, 466-7
goes to Bath, 469
her grief at the death of
Fanny Godwin, 473-4
and the death of Harriet, 480,
484, 487
her marriage to Shelley, 488-
90, 498, 501, 652
and the Chancery decision,
5°5~6
her friendship with the Hunts,
517-8
at Mar low, 518
her novel, Frankenstein, 519,
579, 616, 623
birth of her third child, Clara
Everina, 519
dedication of Laon and Cythna
to, 519
and the liaison between Clare
Clairmont and Byron, 521-2
and Shelley's impending arrest
for debt, 523-6
leaves Mario w for London, 528
prepares for visit to Italy,
529
describes villa at Este, 533
her grief at the death of
William, 534-6
her love of society, 540
goes to Spezzia, 542
treasures the relic of Shelley's
heart, 543
and Shelley's death, 546
settles with the Hunts at
Genoa, 560
Byron appeals to Sir Timothy
Shelley on behalf of, 562-9
Sir Timothy's allowance to,
565, 572-6, 585-6, 591-8,
606
and Trelawny, 567-8, 571,
605-6
calls on Whitton, 573-4
703
Shelley in England
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft,
edits Shelley's Posthumous
Poems, 576, 580, 617
her Valperga, 579, 587
assists her father, 587, 608
her book, The Last Man, 587-8,
616
goes to Arundel, 598
visits Paris, 601-2
visits the Robinsons, 604
her literary studies, 606-7
and Percy's education, 613-4
her description of her son,
615-6
her novel, Lodore, 616
edits collected edition of Shel-
ley's poems, 618-22
edits Shelley's prose writings,
623-4
her Rambles in Germany and
Italy, 623
her death, 624
extract from letter to Mrs.
Leigh Hunt, 505
extract from letter to Shelley,
523
her letter to Sir Timothy, 594,
599
her letter to Whitton, 596,
599
letter to Mrs. Booth, 601
extract from letter to Jane
Williams, 569
extract from letter to Leigh
Hunt, 583, 619
extract from letter to Miss
Cuman, 586
extract from letter to Tre-
lawny, 591-606, 615
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, his
descent, 1-5
and his grandfather, Sir Bysshe
Shelley, 14-5
born at Field Place, 21
tablet commemorating his
birth, 25
his brother and sisters, 25
Hellen Shelley's recollections
of his childhood, 26-31
his appearance as a child, 26
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, an early
letter, 28
his verses on a cat, 31
his retentive memory, 32
schooldays at Syon House,
34-51
and his cousin Tom Medwin,
34- 43, 44
his passion for reading ro-
mances, 45-7
and Walker's astronomical
lectures, 47-8
goes to Eton, 51-71
and Mr. Bethell, 53-66
Gronow's recollections of, 55-
57
his friendships, 56-8
tormented by his school-
fellows, 59-61
opposes fagging, 62
his fight with Sir Thomas
Styles, 63
his interest in chemistry, 65-6
his friendship with Dr. James
Lind, 67-70, 1 80
in the Montem processions, 71
dislike of sport, 72
attracted by the " School of
Terror," 73
writes The Wandering Jew,
74-9
his novel, Zastrozzi, 74, 82, 85,
87, 91
his correspondence with Felicia
Dorothea Browne, 79
and with Sir Walter Scott, 80
writes and publishes St. Ir-
vyne, 85, 87, 89, 123-6
his interest in German ro-
mance, 86-9, 103-4
recollections of a "Newspaper
Editor," 86-9
signs his name as a student
at University College, Ox-
ford, 89-90
and his cousin Harriet Grove,
93-6
publishes Original Poetry by
Victor and Cazire, with his
sister Elizabeth, 96-100
704
Index
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, goes up
to Oxford, 1 01 et seq.
meets Thomas Jefferson Hogg,
102
Hogg's recollections of Shelley
at Oxford, 103 et seq.
his personal appearance, 105,
127-9
his forecasts of the uses of elec-
tricity and aerial naviga-
tion, 108-9
disorder of his rooms, 110-3
rural walks with Hogg, 115
writes and publishes Posthum-
ous Fragments of Margaret
Nicholson, 117-22
C. K. Sharpe's recollections
of, 121-2, 125
characteristics, 116-7, * 27-3 2
his metaphysical studies, 132-5
and Stockdale the publisher,
135-7, X46, 160-7
rebuked by his father, 137-8
his engagement with Miss
Grove broken off, 138-44,
155-7
and Mr. Bird's History of
Sweden, 144, 147, 150, 629-
32
his novel, Leonora, 145-8
his Poetical Essay on the Exist-
ing State of Things, 148-51
his philosophic doubts, 152-9
and his father, 159-73
betrayed by Stockdale, 161-6
competes for the Oxford Prize
Poem, Parthenon, 171-3
the misfortunes of his coat,
176-9
and Godwin's Political Jus-
tice, 180-2
writes to Leigh Hunt, 183-5
and Mr. Hobbes, 186-7
writes and issues The Necessity
of Atheism, 188-97
his experiences as a printer,
188-9
his expulsion from the Uni-
versity, 197-203
leaves Oxford, 203-4, 206
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, his life in
London with Hogg, at Poland
Street, 207 et seq.
attends lectures on anatomy,
212
and his father's anger, 213
negotiation with his f atherjfor
a reconciliation, 214 et seq.
the intervention of Mr. Whit-
ton, the family solicitor, 225
et seq.
and Hogg's departure from
London, 240
meets Harriet and Eliza West-
brook, 245
desire to renounce his inherit-
ance, 246-54
declines to become a politi-
cian, 256-8
and the Duke of Norfolk, 256
and Captain Pilfold, 260-1,
279-80
goes to Field Place, 264, 278
arranges terms with his father,
264
his interest in Harriet West-
brook, 265-78, 296-300
meets Miss Elizabeth Kitch-
ener, 280
corresponds with Miss Janetta
Philipps, 281-3
and his sister Elizabeth, 284-7
and the Prince Regent's fete,
288-91
visits his cousin Thomas Grove
at Cwm Elan, 292-6
his elopement with Harriet
Westbrook, 300-8
and his father's anger, 301-3,
311, 316-23
his marriage in Edinburgh,
309-10
life in Edinburgh with Hogg,
312-24
goes to York with his wife and
Hogg, 325
appeals to his grandfather, 331
visits Sussex, 332-49
his father irreconcilable, 336
et seq.
70S
2 Y
Shelley in England
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, and his
mother, in regard to his
sister's rumoured engage-
ment with Graham, 340-3
and Hogg's treachery, 353-6
leaves York for Keswick, 354
and Eliza Westbrook, 357-8
and Southey, 358
visits the Duke of Norfolk,
360-2
his financial affairs, 362-6,
377
writes to his sister Hellen,
368-71
his correspondence with God-
win, 372-7
his campaign in Ireland, 377-
87
issues An Address to the Irish
People, 377-9, 383
his speech at the Fishamble
Street Theatre, 379-82
meets Curran, 385
leaves Dublin and arrives in
Wales, 387
and the gossip about Miss
Kitchener, 390-2
at Lynmouth, 393-6
his Letter to Lord Ellenborough,
393
and Miss Kitchener's visit,
394-7
at Tanyrallt, 395-400
arrested for debt, 396 n.
revisits Ireland, 400-1
writes Queen Mab, 400-2
in London, 402-13
birth of his daughter lanthe
Elizabeth, 402
visits his father, 405
makes the acquaintance of
the Newtons and Mrs Boin-
ville, 407
revisits Edinburgh with his
wife and Peacock, 408-9
his finances, 411-3
his last visit to his mother
at Field Place, 414-8
Mrs. Boinville's sympathy for,
418-21
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, his remar-
riage to Harriet in London,
422-4
parting from Harriet, 425-37
his meeting and friendship
with Mary Godwin, 431-7
his elopement with Mary
Godwin, 438 et seq.
writes from Switzerland to
Harriet Shelley, 441
returns to England, 444
History of a Six Weeks' Tour,
444
his poverty in London, 446
birth of his son, Charles Bysshe,
447
and the death of his grand-
father, 449
his income resumed, 454
his life at Bishopsgate, 455
the maintenance of his children,
acts in Shakespeare drama
on the stage at Windsor,
458-9
and the case of Du Cane v.
Shelley, 460-2
issues Alastor, 463
his second visit to the Con-
tinent, 465-9
and Godwin's unfriendly atti-
tude, 466
meets Byron, 467
his return to England, 469
makes his will, 470
and the death of Fanny
Godwin, 473
and the death of Harriet
Shelley, 474, 480, 485
claims his children, 484
his marriage with Mary Woll-
stonecraft Godwin, 487-9
and the Chancery case, 490-504
and the guardians for his
children, 505-11
leases Albion House, Great
Marlow, 516-7
visits Hunt at Hampstead, 517
birth of his daughter Clara
Everina, 519
706
Index
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, writes
Laon and Cythna (afterwards
The Revolt of Islam), 519-20
and Miss Clairmont, 521
arrested for debt, 522-5
Godwin visits him at Marlow,
526
leaves Marlow, 528
baptism of his children, 529
leaves England for Italy, 531
and Byron's child Allegra,
53i
meets Byron at Venice, 532
in Rome, death of his child-
ren Clara and William,
534
writes The Cenci, Prometheus
Unbound, and Julian and
Maddalo, 535
birth of his son Percy Florence,
536
and Miss Sophia Stacey, 536-9
his son christened, 540
and his circle of friends at
Pisa, 541
goes to Lerici, 542
his death and cremation, 543
news of his death received in
London, 544-7
publication and suppression of
his Posthumous Poems, 576-
85
his poems edited by Mary
Shelley, 617-22
his letters and essays pub-
lished, 622
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, letters —
to Allen Etheridge, 369
extracts from, to Godwin, 180,
195, 372-4, 385, 465
extracts from, to Graham, 84,
120, 290
to Graham, 90-2
extracts from, to Miss Kitch-
ener, 15, 212, 258, 288-9,
299, 301 n., 324, 327-8,
333, 339 n., 343, 366, 390-1,
450
to John Hogg, 235
to T. J. Hogg, 305, 419
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, letters —
extracts from, to T. J. Hogg,
137-8, 141-8, 153-60, 162,
165, 172,260-4, 269-75, 277-
80, 283-8, 293-300, 397, 409
extract from, to T. Hookham,
400
extracts from, to Leigh Hunt,
104
to his cousin " Kate," 28
to Thos. C. Medwin, 346, 384,
387
extract from, to Janetta
Philipps, 152
to Sir Bysshe, 331, 393
to Elizabeth Shelley, 342
to Harriet Shelley, 441
to Hellen Shelley, 369
extracts from, to Mary Shelley,
404, 487
to Sir Timothy Shelley, 168,
173, 214, 218, 227, 232, 306,
311, 318, 321, 325, 330, 335,
341, 351, 363, 365, 388, 403
to Mrs. Timothy Shelley, 341
to Stockdale, 166
extract from, to Stockdale,
123-5
extract from, to Robert
Southey, 485
to Mr. Teesdale, 413
to Whitton, 247, 250, 337, 339,
345
to William Willatts, 528
Shelley, Sir Percy Florence (the
poet's son), 559-64, 572
his birth, 536
his likeness to Lady Shelley,
538
his baptism, 539-4°, 5^5
taken to see Sir Timothy
Shelley, 593
his school at Kensington, 599-
605
visited at school by Sir
Timothy, 600
letter to Sir Timothy, 605
the family grave at St. Peter's,
Bournemouth, 608
goes to Harrow, 613
707
Shelley in England
Shelley, Sir Percy Florence (the
poet's son), his mother's
description of, 615-6
goes to Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, 616
his allowance from his grand-
father, 623-4
succeeds his grandfather,
624
settles at Bournemouth, 624
his love of sailing, 625
produces plays at his theatre
in Tite Street, 625-6
his friendship with Robert
Louis Stevenson, 627
his death, 627
Shelley, Timothy (of Fen Place,
the poet's great-grand-
father), 2-8
Shelley, Timothy (of Champneys) ,
7-8
Shelley, Sir Timothy (the poet's
father), 8, 93, 185, 655
and Sir Bysshe, 13-4
leases Castle Goring to Capt.
Pechell, 16-7
education, 19
characteristics, 20
his marriage to Elizabeth Pil-
fold, 21
settles at Field Place, 21
birth of his children, 21, 25
his love of sport, 72
accompanies Shelley to Ox-
ford, IOI-2
his religious views, 134
his anger at Shelley's scepti-
cism, 136-8, 1 60, 365
makes inquiries concerning
Hogg, 165
refuses to pay Stockdale's ac-
count, 167, 188
and Shelley's expulsion from
Oxford, 194 n., 213-20
becomes acquainted with Hogg,
222-4
misunderstands Shelley, 225
guided by Whitton in his
dealings with Shelley, 226
et passim.
Shelley, Sir Timothy (the poet's
father), wishes Shelley to
enter Parliament, 256-8, 374
asked to make provision for
Shelley, 262-4, 336, 339,
347, 350-2, 360-6
welcomes Shelley's visit to
Cwm Elan, 292-3
and Shelley's elopement with
Harriet," 307-12, 316-23,
325
consults with Mr. Hogg, 316,
326-7, 333-6, 347
discusses Shelley with the
Duke of Norfolk, 348-9,
360-1
resumes his son's allowance,
377
and Shelley's Dublin cam-
paign, 382-4
refuses to assist Shelley to
buy the Nantgwillt property,
389
refuses to be reconciled to
Shelley, 404
and death of Sir Bysshe, 449
and the case Du Cane v.
Shelley, 460-2
and the custody of Shelley's
children, lanthe and Charles,
491-4, 506
appointed guardian to his
grandson Charles, 512-4
and Shelley's debts, 522-6, 539,
633-8
birth of his grandson and heir,
Percy Florence, 538-9
and the death of Shelley, 549-
52
representatives of Miss Kitch-
ener's claim on, 550-3
his dislike of Mary Shelley,
559, 588
asked to make provision for
Mary Shelley, 562-9, 572-6,
585-6, 591-8
and the publication of Shelley's
Posthumous Poems, 580
and his grandson's education,
613-4
708
Index
Shelley, Sir Timothy (the poet's
father), makes his grandson
an allowance, 623-4
his death, 624
and the will of John Shelley,
of Field Place, 644-5
and the deed concerning Shel-
ley's allowance, 646
his letter to Hogg, 213
extract from his letter to Mr.
J. Hogg, 219, 316
his letters to Percy, 217, 365,
404
extracts from letters to Whit-
ton, 226, 228-9, 240, 242-4,
262 n., 347-9, 412, 463, 514,
539, 589-90, 592-3
his letters to Whitton, 253-5,
549-51
his letter to Captain Pilfold, 337
Shelley, Sir William, 2
Shelley, William (the poet's son),
455, 466, 469, 472, 502,
528-9, 534, 623
Shelley-Sidney, Sir John, 10, 90,
171, 240, 450-1
Shelley-Sidney, Mrs. Sophia, 101,
171
Shelley Note-book, 54, 61, 66 n.,
202
Shelley Society, 188
Sidney, Elizabeth. See Perry
Sidney, Elizabeth Jane. See
Shelley
Sidney, Sir Philip, 10
Skeffington, Sir Lumley, 488
Skinner Street, 375-7, 394, 43 1-
432, 438, 446, 473, 488
Slack, Henry James, 555-7
Slater, Mr., 599
Slatter, Henry, 122, 144-5, 185,
191, 193-5, 206, 632
Slatter, J., 101, 206, 629-31
Sly ford, Ann, 8
Smith, Dr. Adam, 170
Smith, Benjamin, 481-2
Smith, Horace, 518, 529, 607
Southey, Robert, 124 n., 149,
288, 355, 358-66, 377, 408,
464, 485
Southey, Mrs., 359
Spezzia, Shelley's death at, 542-3
Squire, John, 515
Stacey, Sophia, 536-9
Stamerham, 7
Stedman, Mr., 351
Sterne, Laurence, 516 n.
Stevenson, Robert Louis, 627
Stockdale, Mrs., 162
Stockdale, John Joseph, 76, 96-7,
102, 123-5, 135-7, 144, !46,
160-7, 181, 186, 336, 352
Stockdale' s Budget, 136 n.
Stockton-on-Tees, 219, 233, 335,
352
Streatham, Manor of, 4
Strong, Mr., 281
Stutters, Mr., 46
Styles, Sir Thomas, 63
Sussex, Lady Frances Sidney,
Countess of, 19
Swinburne, Algernon Charles,
85, 480 n.
Syon House Academy, 34-51
TALFOURD, SIR THOMAS NOON,
622
Tanyrallt (Wales), Shelley at,
395-401, 409, 633
Taylor, John, 641-2
Teesdale, Mr., 413, 461
Thackeray, W. M., 99, 100
Thomas, Mrs. Jane, 477
Tite Street (Chelsea), Sir Percy
Shelley's theatre at, 625-6
Travers, Miss R. C. See Hynd-
ham
Travers, Major, 21-2 n.
Trelawny, Edward John, 436,
486 n., 541, 543, 560, 567,
571, 576, 59i, 605-6, 615,
621
Turner, Mr. Fred, 35, 46
Turner, Mrs., 407, 420, 424, 426,
436
Tylecote, Jeffrey, 517
VAUGHAN, PERCY, 517
Via Reggio, 543, 548
Voltaire, 170, 401
709
Shelley in England
WALKER, ADAM, 47-8, 67
Walker, Rev. John, 193, 203
Walpole, Horace, 73
Wandering Jew, Shelley's, 74-79
Warne, Miss, 359
Warnham (Sussex), 7, 27, 32,
64
Watson, James, 500
Watson, William, 486
Weekly Times, 556
Westbrook, Ann, 265 n.
Westbrook, Eliza, 288, 298, 395,
401-2
her copy of Queen Mab, 151
visits Shelley, 245
arid Shelley's visits to Chapel
Street, 269-73
stays with Harriet at York,
after Hogg's treachery, 353-5
Hogg's description of, 357
makes her home with the
Shelleys, 357~6i, 377. 396,
398, 400, 426
Shelley's dislike of, 420, 427,
437
Shelley's accusations against,
480, 484
and the guardianship of Shel-
ley's children by Harriet,
490-506
appointed guardian of lanthe
Shelley, 512
her marriage, 512
her kind care of lanthe, 514
Mr. Esdaile's impressions of,
515
her letter to Shelley, 276-7
Westbrook, Harriet. See Shel-
ley
Westbrook, John, 265, 270,
301-2, 401, 428, 514
his business, 266
insists on Harriet returning
to school, 271-2, 297-8
visited by Shelley's father re-
garding the elopement, 307
declines to help Shelley and
Harriet, 312
assists the Shelleys, 362, 365-6
377, 454. 485-6
Westbrook, John, Shelley sends
the Address to, 379
and the separation between
Shelley and Harriet, 456-9
and the death of Harriet, 475,
480, 482
and the guardianship of Har-
riet's children, 490-506
made guardian of lanthe
Shelley, 512
his death and will, 515-6
West Grinstead (Sussex), 21
Wetherell, Charles, 500
Whitton, Richard, 470
Whitton, William, 226, 246, 307,
336-9, 343, 37i, 377, 459,
482, 5H-4, 523, 546, 562-7,
572-5, 585-8, 594-600, 613
extracts from his letters to
Sir Bysshe, 227, 302-3, 346
extracts from his letters to
Sir Timothy, 241-4, 252,
292, 302, 317-20, 462, 467-9,
491-2, 524-5, 591
his letters to Sir Timothy,
457, 58i
extracts from his letters to
Shelley, 244, 448
his letters to Shelley, 249, 251,
344
extract from his letter to
Amory, 449
extract from his letter toDesse,
461
Wilkie & Robinson, Messrs. ,82-4,
146
Willatts, William, 528
Willett's Bridge (East Grinstead),
5
William IV, 10 n.
Williams, Capt. Edward Ellerker,
541-3, 545-6, 548, 558, 560
Williams, Elizabeth, 511
Williams, Rev. James, 511
Williams, Jane, 541, 558, 560,
569, 572, 577, 616
Williams, Capt. John, 557-8
Williams, Owen, 634-5
Williams, Richard, 511
Willis's Rooms, 49
710
Index
Winchester College, 48
Windsor, 50, 67
Wise, Mr. Thomas J., 188, 557 n.
Withall, Mr. Charles, v, vii, viii,
476, 483
Withall, Mr. Walter, ix, 544
Woellf, Joseph, 341
Wollstonecraft, Mary. See God-
win, Mary Wollstonecraft
Wordsworth, William, 288, 359,
361-2, 464
Worminghurst, 2
Worthing (Sussex), 14, 96, 188
YORK, 260, 263, 285, 293-7, 3°5'
323-33. 345, 351, 353
Zastrozzi, Shelley's novel, 74, 82,
85, 87, 91
Zofloya, or the Moor, by " Rosa
Matilda," 47, 85
Zouch, Thomas, 75 n.
THE END
Printed by BALI.ANTYNE, HANSON <5r» Co.
Edinburgh & London
PR Ingpen, Roger
5431 Shelley in England
15
1917
v.2
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